HC Deb 15 February 1933 vol 274 cc997-8
35. Captain P. MACDONALD

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies the latest information available as to the date at which pipe lines to the coast from Iraq oil fields will be ready for operation; and whether the branch to the English port of Haifa will be completed before that to Beyrout?

Sir P. CUNLIFFE-LISTER

I am unable to say when the pipe lines will be ready for operation, but it is provided in. the agreement between the Iraqi Government and the Iraq Petroleum Company of the 24th March, 1931, that the pipe line system, that is to say both branches, shall be completed by the 31st December, 1935, and that if both branches are not completed simultaneously, the branch to Haifa shall be completed not later than six months after the other.