Office of the Historian

263. Memorandum of a Conversation, Department of State, Washington, September 25, 1957, 3:35 p.m.1

Washington, September 25, 1957, 3:35 p.m.

SUBJECT

  • Iraqi Pipelines

PARTICIPANTS

  • H. E. Ali Mumtaz al-Daftari, Minister of Finance and Acting Foreign Minister of Iraq
  • Saleh Mahdi, Chargé d’Affaires of Iraq
  • The Secretary
  • Stuart W. Rockwell, NE
  • David D. Newsom, NE

The Finance Minister said that he was discussing with Iraq Petroleum Company officials in London the possibility of new pipeline capacity for Iraq. This would be achieved, he said, by a pipeline to [Page 586] Kuwait and by diverting the Haifa pipeline. The pipeline through Kuwait would raise the amount of oil shipped from southern Iraq from 8,000,000 tons per year to 23,000,000. The diversion of the Haifa line would add an additional 12,000,000 tons per year.

The Secretary asked the Minister’s views regarding a proposed pipeline through Turkey. The Minister replied that this would be very expensive and would cost nearly $1 billion and would take four years to build. He said Iraq could not wait so long to get additional capacity. The Secretary said he thought the $1 billion figure was high, and mentioned the figure of $450 million. The Finance Minister indicated he believed this to be the least desirable of the alternatives currently open to Iraq.

  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 887.2553/9–2557. Secret. Drafted by Newsom. The time of the meeting is from Dulles’ Appointment Book. (Princeton University Library, Dulles Papers) See also infra.↩