Was Kirkuk oil flowing to Vichy Levant until May-June 1941

Discussions on the economic history of the nations taking part in WW2, from the recovery after the depression until the economy at war.
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Dili
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Was Kirkuk oil flowing to Vichy Levant until May-June 1941

#1

Post by Dili » 05 Feb 2020, 22:12

Was there any oil flow from Kirkuk to Tripoli-Lebanon refinery before the fall of Vichy Levant?

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Gorque
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Re: Was Kirkuk oil flowing to Vichy Levant until May-June 1941

#2

Post by Gorque » 05 Feb 2020, 22:31

After the outbreak of World War II in 1939, it became increasingly difficult for IPC to continue its operations. Its activities were upset by the normal disruptions of the war such as the sabotage of pipelines, the rebellion in Iraq in 1941 and the subsequent occupation of Iraq by British troops, the negotiations of moratoriums on concession agreements with Iraq and other governments, the inability to carry out pipeline expansion plans, and so forth. But these disruptions had little direct bearing upon the problems which are of central interest in this report.

What is important from the point of view of this report was the disruption of the red line agreement and the subsequent maneuvers and improvisations of the groups. CFP and Gulbenkian were dcdared enemies and could not participate in IPC affairs; NEDC claimed the war dissolved the red-line agreement but CFP and Gulbenkian denied this was so; CFP took the mattee to court when Jersey Standard and Socony refused to permit any group to have a share in Standard and Socony's interest in Arabian American Oil Co., and, after 2 years of negotiation but before the court action came to trial, the groups concurred on a new agreement eliminating most of the restrictive provisions of the red-line agreement. These are time principal issues upon which attention will be focused in this section.

Effects of war upon IPC operations

Shipments disrupted.--Shortly after the outbreak of war in 1939, the British and French Governments, which possessed mandatory powers over Palestine and Syria, respectively, prohibited shipments from Haifa and Tripoli (IPC's Mediterranean terminals) to destinations outside the British and French Empires. But this restriction did not result in any reduction in IPC production, for the British and French required all possible oil from this source. However, with the entry of Italy into the war in June 1940, the Mediterranean was closed to Allied shipping and it was impossible to export from Haifa and Tripoli. From that time on until the Mediterranean was opened to Allied shipping, IPC could produce only such oil as could be processed locally at the refineries at Haifa a and Tripoli. 40

In 1939, Consolidated Refineries. Ltd., a company owned 50-50 by Anglo-Iranian and Royal Dutch-Shell, constructed a refinery at Haifa and in 1940 the French High Commissioner of Syria constructed a small refinery at Tripoli. Under an agreement with IPC, the French High Commissioner was to own and operate the Tripoli refinery during hostilities but it was to be turned back to IPC at the end of the war and the crude which IPC agreed to supply was to be considered as payment for the refinery. Until the Mediterranean was freed for allied shipping, the Haifa and Tripoli refineries were the only outlets for Iraq crude, and consequently production during this period was sharply curtailed. 41
Source:https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/P ... m/ftc5.htm

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Dili
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Re: Was Kirkuk oil flowing to Vichy Levant until May-June 1941

#3

Post by Dili » 15 Feb 2020, 02:16

Thanks Gorque still not much specifics(numbers) but seems some oil went to Tripoli and probably was processed from 1940 to begin of 1941 - obviously when things got tense the British certainly stopped the flow.

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Loïc
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Re: Was Kirkuk oil flowing to Vichy Levant until May-June 1941

#4

Post by Loïc » 15 Feb 2020, 04:35

Interrumpted after july 1940, the 200 000 t. of oil treated by an improvised reffinerie of Tripoli were already in stock at the moment of the Armistice
https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article ... 19218.html
However, the day after the armistice of June 1940, after the short-lived burst of energy of General Mittelhauser, the British decreed the blockade of the Levant. No more, food textiles and oil. From Kirkuk to Tripoli, the pipeline suddenly ran dry.

The French Oil Company, however, had a stock of around 200,000 tonnes of pure oil in Lebanon. If the product could be refined, reasonable rationing would ensure the supply of the States under Mandate for a fairly long period of time. But the Levant had no refinery. In Tripoli, in fact, head of line of the North pipe, French oil tankers were loaded with pure oil which we treated in our metropolitan refineries - the best equipped in Europe.

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