Middle Eastern Oil (3 results)

First edition of this excellent handbook for IPC employees, outlining the operations and expanding importance of the petroleum industry and surveying the history and current condition of states in Arabia, the Gulf, and the Levant. Chapter 1 describes the IPC's formation, the mechanisms for opening a new concession, the history of its prospecting and extraction projects, and the Mediterranean pipeline. A chapter on the culture of the Arab world is followed by regional breakdowns that draw on company and government reports. Concerning the Gulf, the handbook emphasizes the potential of oil exploration to transform the region. In Qatar, where an oil field was discovered in the late 1930s, "the population is scanty and wretchedly poor. The Company's present operations supply almost the sole source of wealth. The building of necessary roads, jetties, dwellings, offices, workshops, stores and the like has advanced simultaneously with drilling" (pp. 15 & 69). Accompanying the text are valuable plates, showing IPC operations in Kirkuk and near Tripoli, views of Qatar and Bahrain from the air, and a well with head fittings and flow lines. The folding regional map details oil fields, refineries, and pipelines (both built and projected). A useful tabular appendix summarizes the present state of the IPC's concessions, including the area they cover and the rights granted, as well as current exploration licenses. Octavo. Half-tone portrait frontispiece of King Faisal and 26 plates, folding area map at rear, maps in text. Original grey cloth, spine lettered in red, company logo in red on front board. Ownership inscription ("L. B. Griffiths, Tripoli, 21.11.1948") on front free endpaper. Light sunning, marking at head of front board, top edge foxed: very good.

Black and white map on newspaper, 240 x 275 mm and mounted on a sheet of paper, 270 x 380 mm. A fascinating wartime map of oil fields and supply lines in the midst of the Second World War, highlighting the vast importance of the Arabian Peninsula, Egypt, and West Asia for the Allied war effort, which required an immense and constant supply of petrol. - Vying for oil was a constant concern for both the Axis powers and the Allies throughout the war, and one which informed military strategy. Clearly printed in the midst of the Nazi invasion of Russia, with the areas controlled by the Axis powers and the U.S.S.R. accurate for September of 1941, the map is an informative snapshot of the tense mid-war years, with helpful comments hovering over relevant sections: "Oil concession in Saudi Arabia held by Americans", "U.S. aid to Russia goes over new Iranian railway", "Largest single oil field in world" over Abadan, and "German-Italian nationals not permitted in Afghanistan". Axis bases are marked with a swastika, and Allied ones with a four-pointed star. Railroads, pipelines, and shipping lanes are given particular attention. - A stylistically similar map printed on the reverse of the oil map, covered by the backing paper but still visible if held to light, can be identified as a graphic titled "Where Continents at War Come Closest" (focusing on the Arctic Circle), which ran on page 48 in a February 14, 1942 edition of an American newspaper named The Escanaba Daily Press in Michigan; four days later it ran on page 23 of The Rhinelander Daily News in Wisconsin. Likely these maps and their accompanying article ran in many American newspapers in early 1942. Certainly the map itself mentions American interests twice, perhaps hoping to convince the American public of the importance of the Muslim world in the war effort (and regarding American economic interests, pertaining to oil concessions and the dissemination of U.S. aid). - Haifa has been marked on the map in pencil, and another illegible note in ink appears to mark Ashdod, which today is second only to Haifa in oil refining in Israel, though its refinery was not constructed until the 1970s. - Toned, with two closed tears rebacked by mounting paper; mounting mapper chipped, altogether in good condition.

560 x 827 mm. Chromolithographic map of the Arabian Peninsula, from Turkey in the north to the Indian Ocean in the south, and covering Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Oman, North and South Yemen. Scale 1:5,000,000. Folded. Extremely rare Israeli strategic map of the Arabian Peninsula showing oilfields and associated infrastructure. Printed in black, red and blue, the map demarks the political boundaries of the time along with the areas covered by oil companies' concessions. Pipelines form a web across the northern part of the Arabian Peninsula (shown in uncommon vertical orientation), while oilfields and refineries, large and small, are also marked. The map was most probably created by the IDF in reaction to the Suez Crisis and its associated geopolitical shifts. With the Egyptians operating the Suez Canal, and Britain and France being forced by the USA to abandon their post-imperial plans, Israel now counted in both U.S. and Soviet plans for their control of Middle Eastern politics. Britain was forced to anchor its Middle Eastern influence in Cyprus, Aden and Iraq, while the increased American influence can be seen in the huge swathe of territory assigned to Aramco. We have only been able to trace a single institutional copy of this map in the National library of Israel. - Scale and key in Hebrew inset to top-right, inset explanatory panels in Hebrew and English, compass rose in Saudi Arabia. A couple of small light stains, some uneven creasing and edge tears along creasefolds with a couple of tiny holes at fold joins. Traces of pins from former wall mounting.