242 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1940 



sity for the products which may emerge therefrom, and in many 

 cases big oil companies reduce the hazards of expensive undertakings 

 by pooling their resources and cooperating in the exploration surveys. 

 The countries, other than in North and South America and Europe, 

 where exploration is at the present moment most acti^^e are Egypt, 

 Sinai, Palestine, Syria, Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Asiatic 

 U. S. S. R., India, Burma, Dutch East Indies, Borneo, Sarawak, 

 Dutch New Guinea, British Mandated New Guinea and Papua, 

 Australia, and New Zealand. In many cases the chances of dis- 

 coveries of importance are extremely speculative, but nevertheless 

 wherever theoretical possibilities exist they are being exhaustively 

 investigated. A large expenditure of money and effort may give 

 insufficient or completely negative results ; as examples may be quoted 

 an American company's recent experience in northeastern Iran and 

 Afghanistan and the Shell Company's exploration survey in Papua, 

 which was abandoned after £433,000 had been expended. An ex- 

 ample of the opposite experience is the spectacular success of an 

 American company at Bahrein. It would be quite impossible in 

 the course of this paper to describe in any detail the progress of 

 these extensive surveys, but a short resume of the present position 

 would probably be interesting. 



EGYPT, PALESTINE, SYBIA 



The first phase of exploration in Egypt was in the years just 

 before and after the World War of 1914-18, when about 40 explora- 

 tion wells were drilled in various places throughout the Gulf of 

 Suez littoral. Two oil fields were discovered, Jemsa and Hurghada. 

 After a very few years of spectacular life the Jemsa field declined 

 and was abandoned, but the Hurghada field, discovered in 1913, is 

 still producing, although at a steadily declining rate. Eighteen 

 months ago, however, the persistent effort of the Anglo-Egyptian 

 Oilfields, Ltd., was rewarded with a new discovery at Ras Gharib, 

 115 miles southeast of Suez. This discovery has greatly stimulated 

 exploration in other parts of the Gulf of Suez area, northern Egypt, 

 and Sinai. Geologic and geophysical surveying is being actively 

 carried out by British and American companies, and several new 

 exploration wells are in the course of drilling. 



Geologic and geophysical exploration has been active in Palestine 

 for a number of years, and several concessions have been granted 

 in the coastal zone and in the Dead Sea region. Drilling is con- 

 templated, but progress has been retarded by the recent troubles in 

 Palestine. It is interesting to recall that the bituminous occurrences 

 in and adjacent to the Dead Sea gave rise to its ancient name of 

 Lacus Asphalticus. 



