Which oil field hosted the first commercial oil production in the Middle East in 1908?

Masjed Soleyman hosted the first commercial oil production in the Middle East in 1908.

The field is in present-day Iran’s Khuzestan Province, where the Anglo-Persian Oil Company began commercial production after striking oil on May 26, 1908. The discovery followed years of exploration financed by William Knox D’Arcy and became the foundation of a major regional petroleum industry.

Oil from Masjed Soleyman helped supply the Abadan refinery, which became one of the world’s largest refineries during the twentieth century. The discovery also shaped Iran’s modern economic and political history and contributed to the expansion of British petroleum interests in the region.

Masjed Soleyman is sometimes confused with Dammam, Saudi Arabia, where commercial oil production began later, in 1938. Kirkuk was another important early Middle Eastern field, but it does not hold the 1908 first-commercial-production distinction.