The Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC), until 1929 called Turkish Petroleum Company (TPC), was an oil company jointly owned by by some of the world's largest oil companies, which had virtual monopoly on all oil exploration in Iraq from 1925 to 1961. Nodding donkey pumping an oil well near Sarnia, Ontario Petroleum (from Greek petra – rock and oleum – oil or Latin petra – rock and oleum – oil ), crude oil, sometimes colloquially called black gold, is a thick, dark brown or greenish liquid. ... In economics, a monopoly (from the Greek monos, one + polein, to sell) is defined as a persistent market situation where there is only one provider of a kind of product or service. ...

History

In 1912, the Turkish Petroleum Company (TPC) was formed to seek a concession from the Ottoman Empire to explore for Iraqi oil. The owners were a group of big European oil companies and the purpose of the company was to avoid rivalry among the partners and to outflank other concession seekers. The brain behind the creation was the Armenian-born businessman Calouste Gulbenkian, and the largest single shareholder was the British government-controlled Anglo-Persian Oil Company, which by 1914 held 50% of the shares. Another important shareholder was Royal Dutch/Shell. TPC received a promise of a consession from the Ottoman government, but the outbreak of World War I in 1914 put a stop to all exploration plans. 1912 (MCMXII) was a leap year starting on Monday in the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Tuesday in the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Imperial motto (Ottoman Turkish) Devlet-i Ebed-müddet (the Eternal State) The Ottoman Empire at the height of its power (1683) Official language Ottoman Turkish Capital Bursa (1335 - 1365), Edirne (1365-1453), İstanbul (1453-1922) Imperial anthem Ottoman imperial anthem Sovereigns Padishah of the Osmanli Dynasty Population ca 40... Nodding donkey pumping an oil well near Sarnia, Ontario Petroleum (from Greek petra – rock and oleum – oil or Latin petra – rock and oleum – oil ), crude oil, sometimes colloquially called black gold, is a thick, dark brown or greenish liquid. ... Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian (29 March 1869–Lisbon, 20 July 1955) was an Armenian businessman and philanthropist. ... The Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC) was founded in 1909, as the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, following the discovery of a large oil field in Masjed Soleyman, Iran . ... Royal Dutch Shell plc is a major energy company, one of the top four vertically integrated private sector oil, natural gas, and gasoline companies in the world (along with BP, ExxonMobil, and Total). ... Combatants Entente Powers Central Powers Commanders {{{commander1}}} {{{commander2}}} Strength {{{strength1}}} {{{strength2}}} Casualties > 5 million military deaths > 3 million military deaths World War I, also known as the First World War and (before 1939) the Great War, the War of the Nations, War to End All Wars was a world conflict... 1914 (MCMXIV) is a common year starting on Thursday. ...

Following the defeat and break-up of the Ottoman Empire after the war, shareholding in TPC became a major issue at the San Remo Conference in 1920 (where the future of the non-Turkish areas of the Ottoman Empire was finally decided), as the war had demonstrated to the big powers the importance of having their own sources of oil. One of the original partners had been a German oil company, and the French had seized those shares as enemy property and demanded entrance into TPC through those. And both the Italian and United States governments demanded that their oil companies should be partners as well. After prolonged and sharp diplomatic exchanges, US oil companies were permitted to buy into TPC, but it would take several years until the negotiations were completed. The San Remo conference (19-26 April 1920, San Remo, Italy) of the post-World War I Allied Supreme Council determined the allocation of Class A League of Nations mandates for administration of the former Ottoman-ruled lands of the Middle East by the victorious powers. ... 1920 (MCMXX) is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January January 7 - Forces of Russian White admiral Kolchak surrender in Krasnoyarsk. ...

Oil found in 1927

TPC obtained a concession to explore for oil in 1925, in return for a promise that the Iraqi governemnt would receive a royalty for every ton of oil extracted, but linked to the oil companies' profits and not payable for the first 20 years. Drilling started immediately, and on October 15, 1927 oil was discovered just north of Kirkuk. Many tons of oil were spilled before the gushing well was brought under control, and this sign of a large, valuable field soon proved to be true. 1925 (MCMXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... October 15 is the 288th day of the year (289th in Leap years). ... 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Kirkuk city centre. ...

The discovery hastened the negotiations over the i,3 Chris Brown composition of TPC, and in July 1928 the shareholders signed a formal agreement: the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (which in 1935 became the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC) and in 1954 BP), Royal Dutch/Shell, Compagnie Française des Pétroles (CFP) and the Near East Development Corporation (a consortium of five large US oil companies, among them Standard Oil) each received 23.7% of the shares, and Calouste Gulbenkian the remaining 5%. TPC was to be organized as a nonprofit company, registered in Britain, that produced crude oil for a fee for its parent companies, based on their shares. The company was only allowed to refine and sell to Iraq's internal market, in order to prevent any competition with the parent companies. 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... BP plc, LSE: BP, NYSE: BP, TYO: 5051 , originally British Petroleum, is a British energy company with headquarters in London, one of the top four vertically integrated private sector oil, natural gas, and gasoline companies in the world (along with Royal Dutch Shell, ExxonMobil, and Total). ... Total SA (NYSE: TOT) is a multinational energy company, and one of the top four oil companies in the world (along with Shell, BP, and ExxonMobil). ... Consortium is a word that comes from the Latin consortium meaning association or society, from the word consors meaning owner of means or comrade. ... Exxon Mobil Corporation or ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM), headquartered in Irving, Texas, is an oil producer and distributor formed on November 30, 1999, by the merger of Exxon and Mobil. ...

The big loser was Iraq. The San Remo Conference had stipulated that Iraqis should be allowed 20% of the company if they wanted to invest in it, but the oil companies successfully resisted Iraqi efforts to participate, despite pressure by the British government to accept Iraqi shareholders. In 1929 the TPC was renamed the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC).

Delayed production start

The owners of IPC had conflicting interests: the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, Royal Dutch/Shell and Standard Oil had access to major sources of crude oil outside Iraq, and therefore wanted to hold the Iraqi concessions in reserve, whilst CFP and the other companies pushed for rapid development of Iraqi oil as they had short crude oil supplies. This conflict of interest delayed the development of the Iraqi fields, and IPCs concession eventually expired because the companies failed to meet certain performance requirements, such as the construction of pipelines and shipping terminals. IPCs concession was renegotiated in 1931, however, giving the company a 70 year concession on an enlarged 83,200 sq.km. area east of the Tigris River. In return, the Iraqi government demanded, and received, additional payments and loans, as well as the promise that IPC would complete two oil pipelines to the Mediterranean by 1935 - something CFP had demanded for a long time, in order to get its share of the oil quickly to France. 1931 (MCMXXXI) is a common year starting on Thursday. ... The Tigris (Old Persian: Tigr, Syriac Aramaic: Deqlath, Arabic: دجلة, Dijla, Turkish: Dicle; biblical Hiddekil) is the eastern member of the pair of great rivers that define Mesopotamia, along with the Euphrates, which flows from the mountains of Anatolia through Iraq. ... Satellite image The Mediterranean Sea is a part of the Atlantic Ocean almost completely enclosed by land, on the north by Europe, on the south by Africa, and on the east by Asia. ...

In 1934, a pipeline was completed from Kirkuk to Al Hadithah, where it split into two branches: one going to Tripoli in Lebanon, and the other to Haifa, in what then was Palestine, and the same year the Kirkuk field was brought online. But not until 1938, nine years after the discovery, did IPC began to export oil in significant quantities. The same year the company also got the concession rights to southern Iraq, and founded the Basrah Petroleum Company (BPC) as their wholly owned subsidiary to develop that region. 1934 (MCMXXXIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Nickname: none Motto: {{{motto}}} Official website: none Location Position of Tripoli in Libya Government Country  Municipality Libya  Tarabulus Geographical characteristics Area n/a km² Land n/a km² Water n/a km² Population 1,682,000 (Agglomeration) [1] Total (1996) 990,000 Density n/a/km² Latitude 32°54′ N... For the Lebanese singer, see Haifa Wehbe. ... Map of the territory under the British Mandate of Palestine. ... 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ...

The Kirkuk production averaged 4 million tons per year until World War II, when restricted shipping in the Mediterranean forced down the production sharply. Combatants Allied Powers Axis Powers Commanders {{{commander1}}} {{{commander2}}} Strength {{{strength1}}} {{{strength2}}} Casualties 17 million military deaths 7 million military deaths World War II, also known as the Second World War (sometimes WW2 or WWII), was a mid-20th century conflict that engulfed much of the globe and is accepted as...

Monopoly maintained until 1961

The production delays after the 1927 find in Kirkuk made many Iraqis believe that IPC was deliberately withholding Iraqi crude from the market, in order to boost the price of the parent companies' oil produced elsewhere. Because of this, Iraq had in 1932 granted a 75 year concession to the British Oil Development Company (BODC), created by a group of Italian and British investors, to 120,000 sq.km. west of the Tigris River. BODC financing was insufficient, however, and the company was bought out by IPC in 1941 and was renamed the Mosul Petroleum Company (MPC), thus maintaining IPCs monopoly in Iraq. 1932 (MCMXXXII) is a leap year starting on Friday. ... For the movie, see 1941 (film) 1941 (MCMXLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

During the 1940s and 1950s, the company also obtained concessions to explore for oil in Dubai and other Gulf states. It retained its monopoly of exploration and development in Iraq until 1961, when the revolutionary government of General Qassem nationalised 99.5 % of its concession areas in Iraq, leaving only the producing oilfields in the company's control. In 1971, the Iraqi government nationalised the remaining interests. This resulted in major increases in revenues for the Baath party government under Saddam Hussein to pursue massive infrastructure projects. Dubai or Dubayy (in Arabic: دبيّ, IPA , generally in English) refers to either one of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates on the Arabian Peninsula, or that emirates main city, sometimes called Dubai City to distinguish it from the emirate. ... 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Abdul Karim Qassim Abdul Karim Qassim (also various other spellings; popularly known as az-Za’im [the leader]) (1914 - 9 February 1963) was an Iraqi military officer involved in the 1958 military coup détat. ... 1971 (MCMLXXI) is a common year starting on Friday (click for link to calendar). ... Bath Party flag The Arab Socialist Bath Party (also spelled Baath or Baath; Arabic: حزب البعث العربي الاشتراكي) was founded in 1945 as a radical, left-wing, secular Arab nationalist political party. ... Wikinews has news related to this article: Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti, (Arabic ), born April 28, 1937 , was President of Iraq from 1979 until his removal and capture after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. ...

The Kirkuk field still forms the basis for northern Iraqi oil production. Kirkuk has over 10 billion barrels (1.6 km³) of remaining proven oil reserves. The Jambur, Bai Hassan, and Khabbaz fields are the only other currently producing oil fields in northern Iraq. While Iraq's northern oil industry remained relatively unscathed during the Iran-Iraq War, an estimated 60% of the facilities in southern and central Iraq were damaged in the Gulf War. Also, post-1991 fighting between Kurdish and Iraqi forces in northern Iraq resulted in temporary sabotage of the Kirkuk field's facilities. In 1996, production capacity in northern and central Iraq was estimated at between 0.7 to 1 million barrels (110,000 to 160,000 m³) per day, down from around 1.2 million barrels (190,000 m³) per day before the Gulf War.

Sources

Country Studies, U.S. Library of Congress - The Turkish Petroleum Company Retrieved 17 January 2006