Iraq Petroleum Company Handbook – 1948

A scarce internal handbook for employees of the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC), titled in full as “Handbook of the Territories Which Form the Theatre of Operations of the Iraq Petroleum Company Limited and Its Associated Companies”.

Published in 1948, it describes the background of IPC, its operations, a broader profile of the oil industry, the geopolitical situation in the Middle East and Gulf, regional culture, etc.

Includes numerous B&W photographs of IPC operations in the region, as well as a folding map of the Middle East showing current and future petroleum infrastructure such as wells, refineries and pipelines, and IPC concessions. Data includes notes on the company’s own concessions and licenses.

IPC was formed after the First World War by some of the largest Western oil companies to produce oil in Iraq. It later expanded its interests around the region, particularly in the Gulf, where it was among the first to prospect for oil in the present-day UAE and Qatar, among others. It was ultimately nationalised in 1972 by the Ba’athist government in Baghdad.

Copies of the handbook are now hard to find.

Published by the company in London in 1948. Hardback, bound in grey cloth with red lettering to spine and IPC company logo to front board. In good condition. Some mild staining and rubbing externally. Stamp of the Kuwait Oil Company to early page. No writing or inscriptions. 152 pages.