Oil Exploration in the Emirates during the Buraimi Crisis

[Oil exploration] - Christensen, J. A. Appraisal of the Offshore Petroleum Possibilities of Oman and Muscat. A Report Prepared for Superior Oil International Inc.

€ 45,000.00

An unpublished, highly detailed typescript report on the geological structures of the Arabian Peninsula with respect to their offshore petroleum potential, particularly remarkable for the various scientific maps which detail stratigraphic and tectonic features along with oil fields not only in Oman, but also in the Emirates. Based on exploration records, petroleum geologists' long-standing expertise, and reconnaissance surveys on the ground and from the air, this report reflects the major scientific effort put into building a sustainable oil industry in the 1960s.

Includes 4 large scale (ca. 108 x 140 cm) aerial reconnaissance maps of the Emirates and Oman, illustrating geology, tectonics, oil fields, and stratigraphic surface sections (Enclosures 1, 7, 11, 12). All indicate that "boundaries in this area are undetermined", with a warning that "flying is prohibited over Saudi Arabian cities". While the Emirates' oil fields are not labelled, the geologic map shows the underlying quaternary structure of fields such as Bu Hasa, Al Dabb'iya, Murban Bab, and Rumaitha. The map of the oil fields, however, indicates Murban Bab and the off-shore oil field Zakum.

Among the oil-rich areas distinctly shown on the maps is the Buraimi Oasis (Al-Buraymi or just Buraimi village), located in an area of intense tectonic movement and amidst a quaternary, cretaceous and eocene structure. In the 1950s the Buraimi Oasis saw an armed dispute between the rulers of Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, and Oman, the British and American governments with their respective declining and rising influence in the region (Britain then the caretaker of external affairs for a number of Gulf states), and the oil companies Aramco and IPC. After incursions by Aramco exploration parties into what was regarded as the territory of the Ruler of Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia laid claim to Buraimi and much of Abu Dhabi, occupying the Omani village of Hamasa in 1952. After a failed arbitration attempt in Geneva, the Saudis were forcefully removed in October 1955. The dispute continued to simmer for many years until it was finally settled in 1974 by an agreement, known as the Treaty of Jeddah, between Sheikh Zayed (then President of the UAE) and Faisal of Saudi Arabia.

Commercial quantities of petroleum were discovered in Oman in 1964, and oil was first exported in 1967; subsequently, the production and export of oil rapidly came to dominate the country's economy. The introduction of reflection seismic techniques (fol. 99) in the 1960s led to the discovery of four giant oil fields, one of which also contained a large volume of non-associated gas, in the north of the country.

Never published for public consumption and probably issued only for a small circle of executives. Prepared and signed by the geologist J. A. Christensen for Superior Oil Company, an American oil company founded in 1921 in Coalinga, California. Superior Oil began as a drilling contracting firm and grew into the exploration and production of oil and natural gas. The concern was later absorbed into Mobil.