Page 516 - PERSIAN 8 1931_1940_Neat

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VII.—Oil.
1. Drilling.
(a) Bdhra Well.—On 1st January 1037 the depth of the first test well at
Bahra was 5984 feet and early in the year, at 0852 feet, oil stained limestone
was encountered. Tests were made but only 5 gallons of a very heavy oil
was obtained, and consequently, at a depth of 7050 feet, drilling operations
on this well were suspended, und dismantling of the rig and derrick com-
mcnccd.
(b) Burgan Well.—Drilling equipment was transferred from Bahrah to
Burgan, 30 miles South of Kuwait, where the drilling of a new well commenced
on the 16th October.
Work on this second well has been slow owing to lost mud circulation,
due to fissures between 800 feet and 1100 feet. At the close of the year a
depth of only 1556 feet had been reached.

2. Geophysical zcork.
A Geophysical Survey of Kuwait State was carried out by a party of 16
Geophysicists from the Gulf Research and Development Company, Pitts­
burgh, U.S.A., who arrived in Kuwait in September 1936. By the end of
May 1937 the survey of almost the entire State by the Gravimeter and
Magnetometer methods had been completed, while a large area in the vici­
nities of Bahrah, Burgan and Madaniyat had been seismographically ex­
plored. This party left for their next task, in West Sussex, in the early
summer.

3. Transfer of Company's Drilling Camps.
With the end of chilling operations at Bahra in April, the drillers’ camp
was demolished and re-erected during the summer months at Magwa, about
15 miles due South of Kuwait Town. Construction work at the new camp
was completed by the end of the year.

4. General.
During the year the health of the staff and local employees has been good.
The labour is gradually becoming more used to routine, and is showing im­
proved results.

5. Waler explorations.
In the course of the Seismic operations about 240 shallow wells to depths
ranging from 100 feet to 200 feet were drilled in the Madaniyat/Burgan
areas, and about 100 shallow wells of similar depth were also drilled near and
to the west of* Bahrah. No useful supplies of fresh water were found.

VIII.—Royal Navy.
Captain C. E. Morgan, D.S.O., in H.M.S. “ Enterprise ” of the 4th Cruiser
Squadron East Indies, visited Kuwait from 14th to 20th October.
Visits were paid by the Senior Naval Officer, Persian Gulf and by His
Majesty’s ships, sloops of the Persian Gulf Division during the year.

IX.—Royal Air Force.
Aircraft of the Royal Air Force landed at Kuwait as usual in the course
of their ordinary routine duties during the year under review.
Air Vice-Marshall W. G. S. Mitchell, C.B., C.B.E., D.S.O., etc. and Air
Vice-Marshall C. L. Courtney, C.B., C.B.E., D.S.O., Air Officer Commanding
the Iraq Command, visited Kuwait on the 2nd February and 10th Novem­
ber, respectively.

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