Oil and the Mideast

Percy Cox

Saud

Trans-Arabian Pipeline

Cordell Hull

rubber ad

oil routes in Iran from ILN, 1941/11/22

British discover oil in Persia

• Wm. D'Arcy's Burmah Oil Co. 1901 concession that led to the great 1908 gusher at Masjid-i-Sulaiman and formation of 1909 Anglo-Persian Oil Co.
• Mideast oil important to the British navy in WWI; BP an instrument of imperial policy.
• Seven Sisters (the "majors"): Exxon (was Rockefeller's Standard Oil Co.), Shell, BP (name since 1954, privatized since 1979), Mobil (was Socony), Chevron (was Doheny's Socal), Gulf (was owned by Mellons until sold to Chevron), Texaco.
• Sykes-Picot 1916 and San Remo 1920 kept Mideast oil for Britain - document and map
• Iran became republic in 1925 under Reza Pahlevi, but BP dominated with Anglo-Persian Co. and built the first Mideast pipeline to refinery at Abadan.
• 1925 - The British-controlled Turkish Petroleum Company in Mosul was reorganized as the Iraq Petroleum Company
• 1927 - British discover large oil deposits at Kirkuk in Iraq
• 1936 map

ARAMCO in Saudi Arabia

• Abd Al-Aziz ibn Saud captured Riyadh Jan. 15, 1902, from the Rashids and Turks and unified S.A. by 1927, collecting fees from pilgrims to Mecca and Medina - pictures
• Chevron discovery in Bahrain 1931 - map or big
• 1933 concession = all-American, not Allies - map

World War II demand for oil

• Harold Ickes became U. S. Oil Coordinator
• FDR: "I hereby find that the defense of Saudi Arabia is vital to the defense of the U.S." (letter to Stettinius Feb. 18, 1943)
• loans, advisors sent to Saudi Arabia
• Ickes wanted Petroleum Reserves Corp. pipeline across Saudi Arabia by 1944
• Connolly stopped Anglo-American proposal August 1944 that would have supported Saudi Arabia and ARAMCO; instead, policy left up to private companies
• map of private Trans-Arabia pipeline built 1945-50 by Bechtel

U.S. helped Shah Pahlevi

• British, Russian troops entered Iran Aug. 25, 1941 - map or big
• Shah Pahlevi abdicated Sep. 17 - replaced by son - photo of both Pahlevis and map from ILN 1941/09
• U.S. sent Arthur Millspaugh 1943-45 who had helped Qajars 1922-27
• Lend-Lease aid sent to Iran, Russia
• 1943 Tehran Conference Big 3 pledged cooperation and the independence of Iran
• U.S. companies got oil concession in Iran after the war

Quincy conference Feb, 14, 1945

• Saud, Farouk, Selassie
• oil, zionism, British discussed
• U.S. controlled 42% of Mideast oil
• Saud on board Quincy - images
• Peel Plan 1937 map - Jewish Agency moved to New York
• Congress voted Dec. 1945 for unrestricted immigration

Arab power rose

• Saud and 6 others created Arab League March 1945
• 1950 Acheson with NSA negotiated 50-50 deal, similar to Venezuela 1948
• 1960 ARAMCO cut oil price, Saudia Arabia created OPEC in Sept.
• chart of rising production of Saudi oil 1938-1967

Links:

• Versailles Treaty includes Sevres Treaty map and Arab mandates
• Iran oil map and Iraq oil map from UT; Iran oil map from globalsecurity
• Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington, D. C. publishes the illustrated Saudi Arabia, the Magazine
• Saudi Aramco
• OPEC Revenues Fact Sheet, September 1998, from USEIA shows revenues falling from the 1980 peak year.
• Avalon collection of documents on Mideast
• "Floating to Victory" is the 2nd episode from the TV series Oil produced by Grampian Televison, 1986, based on The Seven Sisters by Anthony Sampson
• OPEC revenue
• Energy News on oil from Forbes
• CIA large mideast map 1 and north map 2 and south map 3
• Saudi Arabia Looks Past Oil in Attempt to Diversify, NYT, Dec. 13, 2005 - article
• Burj Dubai skyscraper from Skidmore, Owens, Merrill
• Mall of the Emirates in Dubai award
• Cordell Hull and William Borah
• Isolationism

---