British Mandate: A Survey of Palestine: Volume II - Page 984

CHAPTER XXV.

23. A number of exploration permits for oil had been issued under the Mining Ordinance but had expired and, in 1938, a special Ordinance" governing prospecting for and mining of oil was enacted. The Director of Public Works also administers this Ordinance as Controller of Oil Mines. The Ordinance prohibits the prospecting for or mining of oil except under an oil prospecting licence or an oil mining lease respectively. Provision is made for the right of pre-emption of oil by the Government in the event of grave emergency.

24. It yet remains to be proved whether oil exists in commercial quantities in Palestine. Apart from some small bitumen occurrences in the Jebel Usdum area there is no direct evidence of the existence of oil, although a number of geological structures exist that might prove to be oil-bearing. Oil prospecting licences, to a total of 31, are held by Petroleum Development (Palestine) Ltd., and the Jordan Exploration Co. Ltd., but the final test of drilling has been delayed as a result of the war. It is hoped that drilling operations will begin towards the end of 1946, the most promising areas being Jebel Usdum, the Gaza sub-district and the Negeb. Owing to differences in geological conditions, no direct comparisons can be made between Palestine and the oil bearing regions of the Middle East; any attempt to assess.oil prospects in Palestine must, therefore, be very speculative.
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* Laws of 1938, Vol. I, page 40.

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