crude oil across Iran- except in five northern provinces. Hence, Iran became the first country in the oil-rich Middle East region to start the oil operations.
Iran’s oil industry is now preparing to enter the second century of its life cycle.

   Iran’s oil industry, as a technical and industrial phenomenon, opened the doors of the modern sciences for the Iranians in the past century. It also acted as a foundation for political, economic and social development of the country.

   To examine each event, we need to take a look at what has been going on in the country in the past century.

   Some of the events which have to be carefully studied are as follows:

   Production of crude oil from the first well drilled in Masjed Soleiman field in 1908; construction of Abadan oil refinery in 1913; unsuccessful revision of the D'Arcy concession in 1933; oil nationalization in 1950 and finally inconclusive talks with a consortium of oil firms in 1945 which led to domination of foreigners on Iran’s oil reservoirs and the wasteful utilization of the country's oil resources in 1961.

   Victory of Iran’s Islamic revolution in 1979 put an end to some of the tragic events faced in the oil industry. It also led to replacement of foreign workforce with Iranian one in the industry.

   Following the heavy damages inflicted on the country’s oil industry during the eight-year Iran-Iraq war, the reconstruction job started to compensate for the damages.