In 1944, a prominent petroleum geologist named Everette DeGolyer reported to the U.S. In the following years, oil was discovered in a great many places in the Middle East: the Arabian Peninsula, beneath the Caspian Sea, beneath what would become the nations of Iraq, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and others. The British government pressured an existing British oil company, Burmah Oil, to give D'Arcy the financial assistance he needed in 1905 shortly thereafter, large amounts of oil were found. Britain, still a great power at that time, also wanted to maintain a political presence in the Middle East. At one point when he was on the verge of bankruptcy, D'Arcy appealed to the British government for help they agreed to assist him, fearing he might otherwise sell his concession to a foreign country such as Russia. In 1901, British businessman William D'Arcy convinced the Persian government to award him a concession for oil exploration, extraction, and sales in exchange for £20,000 and 16% of profits over the next 60 years. Oil seeps had been found for thousands of years in Persia. When this finally happened, the first place people drilled for oil was near these seeps, assuming that they portended oil below. Not until the mid-nineteenth century, however, was any formal effort made to extract the oil for commercial use. Since antiquity, natural petroleum seeps were known, and the petroleum collected there was used for a variety of purposes. It's safe to say that the huge reserves found in the Middle East played a tremendously important role in shaping the world we live in. Oil created vast fortunes and industrial empires, launched at least one war, promoted the widespread use of petroleum, gave birth to OPEC, realigned twentieth-century politics, and much more. Since that time, the discovery and exploitation of oil in the Middle East has had a profound influence on modern society and politics. Shortly after, the first oil concessions in Persia (now Iran) were granted, and the race for Middle East oil was on. The first major oil fields were discovered in Pennsylvania and Ohio, with major strikes in Texas and Oklahoma to follow in 1901. Petroleum has become steadily more useful and valuable since the first oil well was drilled by Edwin Drake (1819-1880) in 1859. Oil Is Discovered in the Middle East Overview
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