ANGLO-PERSIAN OIL

Taranaki Daily News, 1 December 1932, Page 3

ANGLO-PERSIAN OIL

ESTABLISHMENT OF COMPANY. REVIEW OF DEVELOPMENT. The Anglo-Persian Oil Company, Limited, was registered in London in 1909 to work the concession originally obtained from the Persian Government by Mr. D’Arcy. This concession was to run for 60 years from May 28, 1901, and gave the exclusive right to drill for, produce, pipe and carry away natural gas, petroleum, asphalt, etc., throughout the Persian Empire, except in the provinces of Azerbaijan, Gilan, Mazandaran, Astrabad and Khurasan, namely, an area of about 500,000 square miles.

After much unsuccessful drilling in the neighbourhood of Quasr-i-Shirm and elsewhere oil was struck in large quantities in 1908 in the province of Khuzistan, south-west Persia, at Miasjid-i-Sulaiman. By 1913 the company was in need of further capital and, as the British Admiralty was then anxious to secure fresh sources of supply for its fuel oil, the Government entered into an agreement and purchased a large number •of shares. Important supply contracts still subsist between the Admiralty and the company. Through the British Tanker Company the Anglo-Persian Oil Company controls about 80 tank steamers, all built in Britain, and having a total carrying capacity of more than 700,0110 tons. Through subsidiary companies it operates refineries in South Wales and Scotland, and, through associated , companies,' in France, Australia and Argentina. The greater part of the present crude production is. refined at Abadan, in Persia. The company’s main production is still obtained from Masjid-i-Sulaiman, and is conveyed by pipe lines to its refinery at Abadan, a distance of 145 miles. A limited production of oil is also obtained by the company at Naft Khana, in Irak. This field may be formed to extend into Persian territory.. The main Persian oil belt, in which oil has been proved in a total areas of 30 square miles, comprises a tract which extends into Irak, and there .appears to be a fundamental geological concordance. throughout the whole belt.'

The production of oil from the Persian field.: for the. years ending March 31, 1921-27, was as folows:— Tons 1921 1922 2,327,221 1923 2,959,028 1924 3,714,216 1925 • 4,333,933 ■ 1926 4,556457 1927 4,806,667 All this oil was obtained from large flowing wells, others being held in re-serve-to meet the constant expansion of the company’s trade. Of the yearly net profits, 16 per cent, is payable to the Persian Government, which received on this account from 1921 to 1927 the following sums:— 1921 585,290 , -1922 593,429 1923 533,251 1924 377,575 1925 824,086 1926 1,048,135 1927 1,341,963 The company employs in Persia 26,000 people, most of whom are Persians.