Building the Mediterranean Pipelines of the Iraq Petroleum Company (1927-1934) – A History of Engineering, Labour and Conflict in the Middle East
MA Norman Frenzel

When oil was struck in Baba Gurgur in 1927 the expected oil deposits in the southern provinces of the Ottoman Empire had already been the object of imperial and commercial ambition for several turbulent decades. Baba Gurgur marks the beginning of commercial oil development in Iraq. A pipeline to the Mediterranean Sea was planned to provide an export outlet for Iraqi oil, but dispute among shareholders, the government of Iraq and the mandatory powers delayed the construction for a few more years. It was finally built between 1931 and 1934.
This study investigates three major topics. First, during construction, engineers were confronted with a number of transportation problems. To solve them, minor infrastructures were erected, water wells were drilled, roads and bridges built, water pipes, telephone and telegraph wires but one element of imperial infrastructure, which had been built for decades. The second topic concerns the major mobilisation of labour along at the temporarily biggest construction site in the world. The study will investigate the composition of labour, organisation of the work process, qualification measures and conflict management. The third topic focuses on the interactions with local populations and institutions of the areas that the pipeline runs through, such as conflicts about land tenure, transit agreements and security arrangements. A main focus for this study is to make a local dimension visible in company sources and thereby allow for a comparative perspective. Pdf

Image 1: No.30. A pipe-carrier travelling in open desert. In: Iraq Petroleum Company: The Construction of the Iraq-Mediterranean Pipe-Line:
A Tribute to the Men Who Built It. London: St. Clements Press, 1934, 37.

Image 2: No.74. Haifa Terminal: pulling a Sealine. In: Iraq Petroleum Company: The Construction of the Iraq-Mediterranean Pipe-Line: A Tribute to the Men Who Built It. London: St. Clements Press, 1934, 86.

Image 3: No.13. The Jordan Valley from the West. In: Iraq Petroleum Company: The Construction of the Iraq-Mediterranean Pipe-Line: A Tribute to the Men Who Built It. London: St. Clements Press, 1934, 16.

Image 4: No.38 Approaching the Orontes crossing. In: Iraq Petroleum Company: The Construction of the Iraq-Mediterranean Pipe-Line: A Tribute to the Men Who Built It. London: St. Clements Press, 1934, 48.