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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Iraq
Index
Natural seepage aroused an early interest in Iraq's oil
potential. After the discovery of oil at Baku (in what is now the
Soviet Union, on the west side of the Caspian Sea) in the 1870s,
foreign groups began seeking concessions for exploration in Iran
and in the area of the Ottoman Empire that became Iraq after
World War I. The Anglo-Persian Oil Company (later renamed the
Anglo-Iranian Oil Company and still later British Petroleum) was
granted a concession in Iran and discovered oil in 1908. Shortly
before World War I, the British government purchased majority
ownership of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company.
The discovery of oil in Iran stimulated greater interest in
potential Iraqi oil resources, and financial groups from several
major nations engaged in protracted negotiations and in
considerable intrigue with the Ottoman Empire in order to obtain
concessions to explore for oil in Mosul and in Kirkuk, two
locations in what later was north-central Iraq. Although a few
concessions were granted prior to World War I, little surveying
or exploration was done.
Data as of May 1988
Developments Through World War II
Natural seepage aroused an early interest in Iraq's oil
potential. After the discovery of oil at Baku (in what is now the
Soviet Union, on the west side of the Caspian Sea) in the 1870s,
foreign groups began seeking concessions for exploration in Iran
and in the area of the Ottoman Empire that became Iraq after
World War I. The Anglo-Persian Oil Company (later renamed the
Anglo-Iranian Oil Company and still later British Petroleum) was
granted a concession in Iran and discovered oil in 1908. Shortly
before World War I, the British government purchased majority
ownership of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company.
The discovery of oil in Iran stimulated greater interest in
potential Iraqi oil resources, and financial groups from several
major nations engaged in protracted negotiations and in
considerable intrigue with the Ottoman Empire in order to obtain
concessions to explore for oil in Mosul and in Kirkuk, two
locations in what later was north-central Iraq. Although a few
concessions were granted prior to World War I, little surveying
or exploration was done.
Data as of May 1988
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