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Many fans take for granted the time and creative thought process that has gone into some of the most recognizable logos in sports. Every logo has a story behind it. A history that exists. Team logos are a part of our every day lives. Logos from past days incite nostalgic emotions of another time. It’s been proven in a number of instances that fans have favorites. Many teams have discovered what happens when a franchise decides to mess with a popular logo. Oftentimes, logos from days of old make a return and the crowd cheers! What is it about a logo design that makes it such an important piece of a sports team? I took a look at a number of different articles about the “best sports logos of all time” articles. I then took into account my own experience and insight as a graphic artist who has been designing business logos for over 10 years. From this, I came up with my own list of the 20 greatest logos in sports. The results are a large mix of completely different designs styles, but each logo that made this list has a story behind why it stands as one of the greatest sports team logos of all time. Let’s see if your favorites made the list.Buffalo SabresOriginal owners of the Buffalo Sabres, Seymour Knox III and Northrup Knox, wanted something different and unique when it came to choosing the name of their professional ice hockey team. They organized a contest with the winning name (Sabre: a heavy cavalry sword with a curved blade) coming from Harry Cole, a Toronto filmmaker. As the Buffalo Sabres, the team is “renowned as a clean, sharp, decisive and penetrating weapon on offense, as well as a strong parrying weapon on defense.” In this case, this logo depicts both its city and its nickname. Pretty cool.Milwaukee BucksIn 2015, the logo for the Bucks was redesigned. Team owners wanted to retain the green but lose the red, feeling the old look had a “Christmasy feel” to it. Designers went with cream because Milwaukee is known as the Cream City, a description of the pale yellow bricks used on many city buildings. In addition, when considering color theory, cream is a perfect compliment to green. Though deers aren’t typically tough looking animals, illustrators were able to create a strong deer image after working with an artist who solely did research on deer antlers. What’s interesting in this design is the inside of the antlers suggests a basketball, which was an accidental element of the design. The Bucks had not requested a basketball be included in the logo design, but artists, through multiple renderings of various sets of antlers, discovered this hidden gem and developed it further. There’s also an M (for Milwaukee) hidden under the buck’s chin which was another happy accident. As artists developed the chest of the deer, they noticed it resembled an M and stuck with it.Portland TrailblazersConsidered one of the most conceptual logos in all of sports, the meaning of the Portland Trailblazers logo design is rather simple. It is a modern graphic interpretation of the game of basketball, showing five players from one side playing against five players from another. Originally designed in 1970 by Frank Glickman of Boston, cousin of Trailblazer’s founder Harry Glickman, this pinwheel concept was updated slightly in the early 2000s by tilting the the graphic 45 degrees to show the motion of the game, but other than that, the logo has stayed true to it’s original design for close to 50 years.The 1948 Los Angeles RamsThe 1948 logo for the Los Angeles Rams is arguably the most important football logo in history when the Rams became the first team to use an insignia or logo on their helmet. Fred Gehrke, a Rams player who also happened to be an artist, spent the season of 1948 hand-painting yellow Ram horns on 70 leather helmets. In 1949, Riddell, the manufacturer of the plastic football helmet, agreed to add the logo design to the Rams helmets. This encouraged other teams to start adding logos of their own to their helmets, starting a trend that continues today. Though the original design has changed over the years, the 1948 painted Ram horns stands as the most innovative and influential logo in sports.Pittsburgh SteelersIn 1962, Republic Steel of Cleveland approached the Steelers and suggested that they consider the Steelwork (an insignia used by the American Iron and Steel Institute) as a helmet logo to honor Pittsburgh’s steel heritage. The Steelwork is a circle enclosing three diamonds with inward-curving edges known as hypocycloids. U.S. Steel Corp. had created this insignia as a way of educating consumers about the importance of steel in their lives. The PittsburghSteelers liked the idea and began wearing helmets with the new logo during the 1962 season. They qualified that year for their first-ever postseason game and believed their new logo had brought them good luck! Originally their helmets were gold so they only sported the logo on one side of the helmet, unsure if they were going to like the look of it on gold. They later switched to black helmets but kept the logo just on one side. Today, the Steelers are the only team in the NFL to sport its logo on only one side of the helmet.Philadelphia FlyersPhyllis Snider, sister of team owner Ed Snider, came up with the name “Flyers” at a rest stop on the New Jersey Turnpike. She was traveling with a group of the original founders when they were kicking around names. She has said she imagined people flying across the ice, thought of the word “Flyers,” and it instantly stuck. Mostly unchanged since it’s original design in 1967, the logo was created by Philadelphia ad man, Sam Ciccone. Not much is known about the development behind the logo since everyone involved in the project have long since passed away, but original Flyers’ founder, Bill Putnam, has suggested it was based on a flying puck. The founders had wanted a warm color (for marketing reasons) but red was already being used by the Red Wings and Canadiens. So, they decided on orange for personal reasons. Putnam had been a quarterback at the University of Texas and wanted to include orange and white in the logo as a symbol of his alma mater. The Flyers produced an updated logo in 2006, but it received such negative feedback (you can’t mess with perfection) that they returned to the original design. It’s remained the same ever since.New England PatriotsThe New England Patiots logo has evolved over the years, from the tri-corner hat design in 1960 to the Flying Elvis that’s been the team logo since 1993. However, it’s the illustration known as Pat the Patriot which debuted in 1961 that stands (or, in Pat’s case, crouches) as both the fan and the player favorite. Pat was illustrated by Boston Globe cartoonist Phil Bissel during a series of cartoons he created for game day programs. Bissel created Revolutionary War figures “wreaking havoc” on the Patriots opponents. Team owner at the time Billy Sullivan was impressed with this particular illustration and, after being given the rights to it by the Globe, named it the teams’ official logo. Pat the Patriot served as the Patriots logo for 3 decades before being replaced with the Flying Elvis of today, which left many fans disappointed, longing for the return of the grimacing Patriot. Bissel explains why his illustration is such a dearly-loved and nostalgic piece of New England sports: “Things are going so fast today. People like to have their feet on the ground, and my old Pat, when I drew him back in 1960, he had both his feet on the ground. He was ready to do battle.”Golden State WarriorsWhen the team moved from Philadelphia to San Francisco in 1962, they retained the name Warriors. In 1969, they began using what was referred to as “The City” logo which was a visual of the Golden Gate Bridge. Then in 1971, the team moved to Oakland and became the Golden State Warriors (side note: they are the only team in the five major professional sports leagues to not be named after a city, state or region). Over the years, the logo has gone through many redesigns. Then, in the late 1990s, the NBA introduced Hardwood Classics uniforms which allowed the team to bring back “The City” look from 1969 on special nights. The Warriors saw a significant increase in ticket sales and merchandise using the old logo. At this same time, plans for forming a brand-new Bay Bridge East Span was in the works. Team owners sent staff to the bridge designers’ offices to get approval to use the plans for a new logo design – merging the nostalgic-inspired love of “The City” logo with the modern vision of a bridge that was yet to be built. Even now, Golden State remains the only club in the major sports with such a prominent use of a structure as the focus of a logo.Milwaukee BrewersThe Milwaukee Brewers yellow and blue mitt logo stood as the official logo of the team during what’s been called the 16 greatest seasons in club history, 1977-1993. Tom Meindel, an Art History student at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, designed the logo. He’d entered an open contest for both professional and amateur designers after hearing about it in a newspaper, winning the $2,000 prize. Meindel went on to create many logos over the years, but the ball and glove design is the one that has been his claim to fame. Though the concept is rather simple, combining the lower case letters “m” and “b” to form a baseball glove, this is considered one of the most recognizable logos in sports.Green Bay PackersThe Green Bay Packers joined the new National Football League in 1921 under the direction of the Indian Packing Company who were later purchased by Acme Packers. Since 1961, the team has had what is referred to as the “iconic ‘G’ logo”. The logo was created by equipment manager Gerald Brashier and art student John Gordon. It’s sheer simplicity is what makes it one of the best logos in the NFL: a white letter “G” in the shape of a football inside a green oval shape. In 1980, they added a gold band around the green shape, but otherwise the logo has remained unchanged. While many universities such as University of Georgia and Grambling State University use a similar “G” in their school logos, it is with permission from the Green Bay Packers who hold the trademark on the “G” logo.University of Notre DameThe Notre Dame leprechaun (designed by sports artist Theodore W. Drake in 1964 for $50) is the mascot of the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish athletics department. Over time, the school transitioned through a variety of nicknames including Catholics, Rovers, Ramblers, and Terriers. It was a group of Irish cheerleaders who added a leprechaun to their cheering lineup in 1960. The student, dressed as a leprechaun, would walk back and forth in front of the cheerleading group with an Irish terrier which was the school mascot at the time. Stories behind why Notre Dame settled on nickname ‘The Fighting Irish’ date back as early as 1899 when Northwestern fans came up with the name as their Wildcats trailed the Irish, chanting “kill the fighting irish” as the second half began. Others believe the name comes from the idea that Notre Dame athletic teams will fight till the end like the Irish Brigade in the Civil War (Notre Dame’s third president, William Corby, served as chaplain for the Irish Brigade). Others believe ‘the Fighting Irish’ refers to the altercation between Notre Dame students and the Ku Klux Klan in 1924 when Klan members came to South Bend to terrorize Catholic students. Students engaged in a 2-day street fight with Klan members before the fighting Irish prevailed. Whatever the reason behind the moniker, the logo of an Irishman holding his fists up and ready for battle stands as one of the greatest logos in sports.Baltimore OriolesArtist Stan Walsh (creator of Snap, Crackle, and Pop) created The Cartoon Bird in 1966 for the Baltimore team, just in time for their appearance in the 1966 World Series. This friendly, smiling, feathered mascot was perched atop Orioles caps from 1966-1988. During the 23 seasons that The Bird represented the team, they enjoyed 19 winning seasons, 7 trips to the ALCS, 6 pennants and 3 World Series championships, making the O’s the winningest team in baseball during that span. Not to mention some of the greatest Orioles who ever lived donned this smiling guy on their caps. Greats like Reggie Jackson, Brooks Robinson, Jim Palmer, Cal Ripken, and the unforgettable Earl Weaver. The Orioles later went on replace The Cartoon Bird with a more realistic representation, but nothing could ever beat the original. After 14-consecutive losing seasons, the franchise decided to bring back the beloved bird to once again represent the team. In the first season with the updated logo, the Orioles finished above .500 for the first time in 14 seasons, as well as won the inaugural Wild Card Game. Did The Bird have anything to do with that? Well, some think that maybe he just did.Detroit Red WingsAfter Detroit was awarded an NHL team in 1926, owners couldn’t decide on a name. They were the Detroit Cougars for a couple of years, before becoming the Falcons. When millionaire James Norris bought the team in 1932, he renamed them the Red Wings. This was due to the fact that Norris had been a member of a sporting club with cycling roots, the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association. The Montreal AAA Winged Wheelers were the very first winners of the Stanley Cup in 1893. They sported a logo of a wheel with wings. Norris felt using a variation of the same design was perfect for a team playing in the Motor City. He may have been on to something. With their new name and logo, the Detroit Red Wings made the playoffs in their first season, going on to win their first Stanley Cup in 1936.Major League BaseballAmerican graphic designer Jerry Dior created the official logo for Major League Baseball in 1968. Dior claims to have completed the logo design in one afternoon with a magic marker and a piece of layout paper. It was long believed the silhouette was Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew, but Dior has refuted that claim. He explained it was based on a series of magazine photographs. He chose the silhouette for its ambiguity. The player can be any nationality and either right- or left-handed. Since its inception, the logo has remained the same, though some MLB teams have updated it to match the colors of their uniforms. This design (a white silhouette flanked with red and blue color blocks) went on to influence many other sport primary logos, including the National Basketball Association, Minor League Baseball, Women’s National Basketball Association, Arena Football League, Hockey Canada, American Hockey League, PGA Tour, National Lacrosse League, Indy Racing League, and Major League Gaming. In 1969, Alan Siegal created the NBA logo. Siegel has said the logo was designed specifically to look like the MLB logo. The NBA Commissioner at the time, J. Walter Kennedy, wanted the logo to be a similar design to suggest a family relationship between the sports. In an industry like professional sports where newer is often seen as better, the fact that this design has remained in place and unchanged for so long makes it one of the greatest, and easily the most influential, logos in sports.Seattle SeahawksThe original design that stood as the logo of the Seattle Seahawks from 1975-2001 was based on a mask known as the Kwakwaka’wakw (pronounced: KWA-kwuh-kyuh-wakw) which was a depiction of an eagle. This work of art draws inspiration from Pacific Northwest Coast Indian Art. The logo was created shortly after the Seahawks found a home in Seattle in 1974. It has always been a right-facing Seahawk and has only been altered twice. It stands apart from other team logos in that it is one of the only logos to express the history and culture of a particular region. In 2002, the logo was “modernized” to give it a “fiercer look” as well as update the colors, but the original design has stayed intact. It’s a piece of an incredible part of the native artistry found in the Pacific Northwest that elevates this logo to the #6 spot as one of the greatest logo in sports. To see the mask that it’s based off of, visit http://bit.ly/2xlpj8x.Boston CelticsThe original leprechaun figure to serve as the Celtics logo was created by Red Auerbach’s brother Zang in 1951. In the beginning, he was a jumping leprechaun holding a cane and wearing a crown. In 1969, he was redesigned as a standing figure spinning a basketball on his finger and leaning on a cane. The design of the figure has remained the same, though enhancements have been added over the years including more detail to the leprechaun’s clothing and added color in the overall design. While the Celtics sometimes use a secondary logo which is a white or green shamrock (depending on the color of the shirt) with the name “CELTICS” curved above, the primary logo of the leprechaun is widely regarded as one of the most popular and instantly recognizable basketball logos ever created.New York YankeesThe interlocking “NY” was not designed for the New York Yankees. In 1887, Louis B. Tiffany (Tiffany & Co.) designed it for a Medal of Valor given by the NYC Police Department to Officer John McDowell, the first NYC police officer shot in the line of duty. In 1909, it was adopted by the New York Highlanders Baseball Club (later to become the New York Yankees) as a way of acknowledging their city and separating them from the orange NY symbol used by the Giants and later the Mets. Though the Yankees have used a few variations of logos for their team, it’s the interlocking N and Y that most everyone associates with New York. Many describe the Yankees logo as transcending the game of baseball, serving as a symbol of the Big Apple. That may be true. In any case, it’s a sports logo that has represented the New York Yankees for more than a century.Interesting fact: One of the most famous players to ever wear a Yankees uniform, Babe Ruth, never sported the famous logo on his uniform. The club had removed the logo from their uniforms in 1917, three years before Ruth joined the team. They didn’t bring it back to the jerseys until 1936, two years after he left New York.Texas LonghornsConsidered one of the most recognizable logos in college athletics, the Texas Longhorn silhouette has an interesting history. The Longhorn has long stood as a symbol of the American West. In 1903, the nickname “Longhorns” was given to UT sports teams by the Daily Texan’s D.A. Frank, though they were also referred to as “Steers,” “Varsity,” and “State.” The nickname casually bounced around the school for decades. It wasn’t until 1961 when Darrell Royal was preparing for his fifth season as head coach that he asked sporting-goods merchant William Andrews to design a logo for the team. Andrews, a previous equipment manager and occasional kicker for the team during the 40s, submitted a crayon drawing of a longhorn head. The logo was added to the team helmets. The Longhorns went on to a 10-1 season that year and is considered by many to be the greatest Longhorn team ever. Over the next decade, they went on to win 3 national championships. The longhorn logo on the helmet served as the visible symbol of the team’s success. It has changed little over the years, and has become a classic Texan and American symbol.Texas historian J. Frank Dobie explains why the longhorn symbol has stood the test of time: “That head signified not only an occupation, but a kind of honor that men not engaged, as well as those engaged, in it would render the animal on which it rested. That head symbolized strength and power and wide-ranging freedom in the great out-yonder. As generations are outmoded, their artifacts and geegaw ornaments are discarded with them, but something in the mighty horns of the Texas steer has kept them from the junk shop. They are more highly prized today than ever before.”Montreal CanadiensFounded in 1909 and predating the founding of the NHL, the Montreal Canadiens are one of the oldest North American professional sports franchises ever. They have been operating longer than any other professional ice hockey team in the world, winning the Stanley Cup more than any other team in history. They became known as “Club de hockey Canadien” in 1916 after George Kennedy and the Canadien Hockey Club purchased the team. Their logo design is an intermingling of the letters “C” and “H.” It has changed very little since it was created for the 1917-1918 season. It has always been a fusion of the letters displayed in the traditional red, blue and white that has long stood as the team’s colors. Known as one of hockey’s oldest and most recognizable logos, the design is simple yet bold and classic. With their long history as a team, the Montreal Canadiens sport a logo that is not only considered iconic, it is also known as one of the greatest logos in sports.Dallas CowboysConsidered to be one of the most recognizable team logos in professional sports, the blue star logo is representative of Texas as “The Lone Star State.” The design has basically been untouched since it was first created in 1960 by Jack Eskridge other than the addition of a white outline by Eskridge in 1964 to give it a more 3-D appearance, which is surprising in a era where many sports teams are updating their logo regularly and seeing increased merchandise sales. So, why have the Cowboys have stayed committed to their iconic blue star? Two words: perfect design.For one, it’s simplistic and simplicity makes it instantly recognizable. In addition, the simplicity of the star shape allows it to be easily manipulated in a variety of sizes. From a football field to a helmet to a coin, the star shape will never lose its proportions. Also, the blue color choice is strategic. Blue is a popular choice for many sports teams, but the Cowboys are one of only a couple teams who use blue alone. Blue promotes a sense of calmness. In this case, it depicts the calm and composed approach of the team. Blue also enforces a sense of dependability and excellence. You often see health care institutions use the color blue for these same reasons. Dependability and excellence are two characteristics any team would want to be associated with. And lastly, it uses symbolism to resonate with a large market audience. The Lone Star pays homage to the state of Texas and its history. The symbol encourages fans to come together in unity. It is rooted in history, allowing fans from all generations to appreciate its meaning and the emotions it evokes. For close to 60 years, this seemingly simple logo design has proven it has the ability to stand the test of time, and will continue to stand for generations to come.I’d love to hear your thoughts on this… find me on Fiverr – lets talk. Or are you a potential client looking for a logo designer? Get in touch – lets discuss working together.

Lets dig in the oil history of the world which started by the advent of the cars around 1875s in Germany ( Europe as such) , around the industrial revolution in Europe geared,the greed for energy in Europe increased.Thus sending its businessmen and sea fearers all around the world in search of renewable energy other than coal as coal was not great for cars / transportation !Our search in this history will eventually link the puzzle pieces of the whole game of world politics and economy.It was the day when two companies: the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company(Netherland based) & the Shell Transport & Trading Company( London UK based) – came together over 150 years ago.Samuel was born into an Iraqi Jewish family from Mesopotemia , modern-day Iraq , in 1853 in England.His father who had inherited a small family bussiness, also named Marcus Samuel ( Irani-Jewish) ran a successful import-export business, M. Samuel & Co., trading with the coalition in the Far East, which Marcus carried on with his brother, Samuel Samuel . Shell’s origins have many ties to the Far East that go back to Marcus Samuel Senior’s import/export business which brought oriental sea shells and antiques to London Europe in the mid-19th Century well before 1833 AD.( On another note , also requires a mention here that the then kings sponsored the sails for Trade and business with which Missionaries - thus spread of religion,were mandatory to travel so sailors/ team get support and can establish localities / colonies to stay and trade long term.) Thus the name SHELL!The Samuel & Co companies launched the first Japanese gold sterling loan issued in London, and was largely concerned in the introduction of Japanese municipal loans, and in the development of the coal trade in Japan.When Marcus Samuel senior died in 1870 he passed the business on to his two sons, Marcus junior and Samuel, who began to expand it. In 1878, Marcus’s sons set up in Yokohama in a move that would help to power Japan’s industrial revolution. Before long, business was booming, and large storage depots were needed to allow for bulk imports.In the 1880s they became particularly interested in the oil exporting business but shipping still posed a problem as oil was carried in barrels which could leak and took up a lot of space. To solve the problem, they commissioned a fleet of steamers to carry oil in bulk, including the Murex which, in 1892, became the first oil tanker to pass through the Suez Canal.The Dutch colony of Malacca was ceded to the British in the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 in exchange for the British trading post of Bencoolen and for British rights in Sumatra. Malacca's importance was in establishing an exclusive British zone of influence in the south east asia region, and it was overshadowed as a trading post by Penang, and later, Singapore.This whole bussiness had been under the banner of British EAST India co. prior to the Sepoy mutiny of 1857 in India.Below is the map to show how deep rooted bussiness and trade flourished between the Europeans ( dutch british french etc even before mid 1800s)Meanwhile, in 1890 a group of Dutch bankers, businessmen, and former colonial administrators formed Koninklijke Nederlandse Maatschappij tot Exploitatie van Petroleumbronnen in Nederlands-Indië (Royal Dutch Company for Exploitation of Oil Wells in the Dutch Indies). That company developed its first pipeline and refinery in Sumatra in 1892, tapping the local oil fields; after 1896, under the leadership of Hendrik W.A. Deterding (1866–1939), it began the construction of tankers and storage facilities and the creation of a sales organization.In 1903 Royal Dutch and Shell company made their first move toward merger by integrating their distributing and sales operations involving Far East sales and East Indies production. In 1907 the more complete merger resulted in the Royal Dutch/Shell Group headed by the two parent companies, with Deterding as general managing director of the group. In 1907, Samuel's company combined with a "Dutch" company of the Netherlands ( Royal dutch petroleum )to create the company today known as Royal Dutch Shell. M. Samuel & Co. Oil transportation thus started to be shipped from Malacca and area to fuel Europe in late 1800s . By 1913 the two companies together, combined with others, had risen to a prominent position among the world’s oil companies, acquiring producing concerns in such areas as Romania, Russia, Iraq, Egypt, Venezuela, Mexico, California, and Oklahoma and enlarging sales operations in Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, and North and South America. It was Black GOLD !!How ever need was to explore /drill oil close to home .Thus exploration began:Naft Khaneh: The House of OilWhat drew more attention to Mesopotamia's oil was the discovery of the Masjid Sulaiman field in Iran in 1908 by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC) - thanks to the efforts of an able petroleum engineer and geologist, George Bernard Reynolds (see "Persia 1908: The First Centenary of the First Oil Well in the Middle East" in GEO ExPro, November 2008).In fact, the first oil wells in Iraq were not drilled in Iraq proper but in a Persian territory that was later transferred to the Ottoman Empire under a territorial exchange agreement in 1913. In Chiah Surkh within the "transferred territory," Reynolds drilled his first wells in 1902-1903. The wells encountered oil and gas shows, but were abandoned for more productive prospects further south. However, APOC revisited the area and drilled in an oil-seepage called Naft Khaneh ("House of Oil" in Persian) in 1909 and it hill oil (41.5 API) in Miocene limestone (Jeribe Formation) capped by Miocene evaporites. The field was developed in 1925 by the Khanaqin Oil Company, an APOC subsidiary. This company also built a pipeline to and a refinery in the nearby town of Khanaqin in 1927, the first oil refinery and pipeline in Iraq.A year later, an oil company in the UK, Burmah Oil, created a subsidiary company to develop oil production in Persia, the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC), which started volume production of oil by 1913.Britain’s Royal Navy was under the leadership of Winston Churchill, who wanted to shift its fuel source from coal to oil. The Navy thus became the company’s major customer and a de facto hidden power behind its success.Iranian popular opposition to the APOC’s royalty terms whereby Iran only received 16% of net profits was widespread and created political discontent throughout the country.In 1941, during World War II, Britain and the USSR invaded Iran, exiled Monarch Reza Shah, and put his son, Reza Pahlavi, who was friendlier to their interests, onto the throne, so business gets easier.Following WWII, nationalistic sentiments were on the rise in the Middle East, most notably in Iran, and the Iranian parliament voted to nationalize the oil industry; at the same time, the public elected Mohammed Mossadegh as Prime Minister, causing the Abadan Crisis.Britain was unable to subvert Mossadegh, so British and American intelligence agencies orchestrated a coup d’état to overthrow him and bring Reza Pahlavi back onto the throne.By 1954, now with a pro-Western leader in place, oil production started again under the control of a new cartel named the “Seven Sisters,” completely based outside the Middle East, in Europe.“resource curse”Also known as the paradox of plenty, refers to the fact that countries with an abundance of natural resources, specifically non-renewable resources like minerals and fuels, tend to have less economic growth, less democracy, and worse development outcomes( middle east) than countries with fewer natural resources( UK, or Europe in general).953 Iranian CoupThe overthrow of the Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in favor of strengthening the monarchical rule of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi on August 19, 1953, orchestrated by the United Kingdom (under the name “Operation Boot”) and the United States (under the name “Operation Ajax”).Red Line AgreementThe name given to an agreement signed by partners in the Turkish Petroleum Company (TPC) on July 31, 1928. The aim of the agreement was to formalize the corporate structure of TPC and bind all partners to a “self-denial clause” that prohibited any of its shareholders from independently seeking oil interests in the ex-Ottoman territory. It marked the creation of an oil monopoly, or cartel, of immense influence, spanning a vast territory. West supremacy !Abadan CrisisOccurred from 1951 to 1954 after Iran nationalized the Iranian assets of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC) and expelled Western companies from oil refineries in the city of Abadan.The Turkish Petroleum Company and "Mr. Five Percent"Map of Iraq’s oil fields in 1939 and main structural features critical to the petroleum systems. The Zagros orogenic belt in southwest Iran formed as two continental plates, Arabia and Asia, collided and the Tethys Sea that once lay between them completely closed.Meanwhile, an Armenian engineer, a shrewd businessman and a citizen of the Ottoman Empire, Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian, had his eye on the oil prospects of Mesopotamia. The son of an oil trader, Gulbenkian learned the art of negotiation in the bazaars of Istanbul and petroleum engineering at King' College, London. After graduation in 1887, the eighteen-year old Gulbenkian went to help his father's oil industry in Baku. In 1891, the Ottoman government asked him to investigate oil possibilities in Mesopotamia and he prepared a comprehensive report. Thus began Gulbenkian's devotion to Mesopotamian oil for the next decades of his life.In the early 20th century, German, French, British and American businessmen and diplomats were all interested in the oil resources and lucrative commercial prospects of Mesopotamia and were engaged in negotiations with the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid. The Germany of Kaiser Wilhelm was involved in the shape of the Deutsche Bank, which ran the Anatolian Railway Company. In 1905, they dispatched a survey team to northern Iraq led by geologists A. Kissling and Cesare Porro who wrote a promising geological report of the region. The American interests were represented in the person of Rear-Admiral Colby Chester, who worked for the New York Chamber of Commerce and arrived in 1908 in Constantinople (Istanbul) to propose the construction of a new port and a few railways. Although Chester succeeded in theory to obtain the Ottoman government's consent for his projects and even for mineral exploration, these ventures were never materialized or even officially ratified. Shortly later, the Sultan lost his throne and Topkapi Palace in the coup d'état of the Young Turks. The British initially approached the Ottoman officials through APOC led by William Knox D'Arcy, a businessman in London, and strongly supported by British politicians in the region. Alarmed by the new political changes, in 1910, the British pushed for establishment of the Turkish National Bank, which was actually a British-owned entity. Another important player was the Royal Dutch-Shell (known as the Anglo-Saxon Oil Company) which was purely in oil business.In 1912, Sir Ernst Casel, a German-born English banker and with considerable influence in Istanbul, registered the Turkish Petroleum Company (TPC) in London. This enterprise also included the Deutsche Bank and the Royal Dutch-Shell, but not APOC. Moreover, it did not have any oil concession at hand. Gulbenkian, who had become a British citizen in 1902 and was involved in British ventures in Turkey all along, helped to strengthen TPC and gain an oil concession from the Turkish government. In 1914, at the request of the British and German ambassadors, Turkey's Grand Vizir, Said Halim, gave permission to TPC for the exploration of oil in the provinces of Mosul and Baghdad, although legal rights and contractual conditions were not outlined. In 1914 a new TPC emerged with a capital of £160,000 and including 50% British (Turkish National Bank and D'Arcy Group, an APOC subsidiary), 25% Deutsche Bank, and 25% Royal Dutch-Shell. It was agreed that 2.5% of Dutch-Shell's and 2.5% of D'Arcy Group's shares belonged to Gulbenkian who treasured this 5% share in Mesopotamian oil all his life, and thus gained the fame of "Mr. Five Percent." (J. Norwich and B. Henson recount his life in a 1987 book, Mr. Five Percent.)The Iraq Petroleum Company and the Kirkuk FieldTPC was, however, only a company on paper. On 28 July 1914, the very day the Grand Vizir wrote his permission letter to TPC, Austrian prince Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo, triggering World War I that engulfed Europe for the following four years. As the war ended, Germany and Turkey were defeated, and the Ottoman Empire was split into several states of the modern Middle East. Mesopotamia became a separate country under the British mandate called Iraq, an old Persian name (Irak) for this region. Looking for a new ruler for Iraq, the British chose Faisal, a Sunni Arab who had fought against the Ottoman Turks with the help of T. E. Lawrence and had been put in power in Damascus in 1920 by the British but ousted by the French shortly after. In 1921, Sultan Faisal became the first Hashemite monarch of Iraq and was to rule the country until 1933. (He was succeeded by his son Sultan Ghazi and grandson Faisal II until the 1958 coup d'état changed Iraq to a republic government.)While post-war rivalries among Britain, France and the USA were dragging on, two geological expeditions in Mesopotamia took place. The first was led by Edwin Pascoe of the Geological Survey of India during 1918-19, and the second by Shell geologists Arthur Nobel and Ralph Evans during 1919-1920. In 1920, the British and the French came to a simple agreement: The German shares of TPC would be overtaken by the French. This angered the Americans who had, in those years, a serious fear of shortage in their domestic oil resources and production. American companies were, therefore, looking for overseas resources, and the government was urging Britain to adopt an Open Door Policy for economic enterprises in its Middle Eastern colonies. Walter Teagle, president of New Jersey Standard Oil Company, was on constant contact with TPC officials. Eventually, the British concluded that oil ventures in Mesopotamia would actually be easier with American capital, technology and political support.On 24 March 1925, TPC gained a new formal concession from the Iraqi government, and shortly later organized a large geological expedition including several American, British and French geologists and led by Prof. Hugh de Boeckh, a geological advisor to APOC. Ranking of drilling prospects became a matter of dispute among the geologists. Although De Boeckh's official report in 1926 did not recommend the Kirkuk seepage site for drilling, participating field geologists A.H. Noble (for Shell) and E.W. Shaw and A.C. Trowbridge (for the American group) put in writing Palkhana and Kirkuk as their best recommended sites for drilling in the folded zone of northeast Iraq. TPC decided to drill two wells at Palkhana (which started on 5 April, 1927) and four wells at other sites including one at Kirkuk. Of all these, only Baba Gurgur No.1 at Kirkuk became Iraq's first oil gusher. Baba Gurgur ("Father of Flames" in Kurdish) is an oil seep close to the town of Kirkuk (now the administrative center of Iraqi Kurdistan.) The name Kirkuk (or Kurkura) is apparently a variation of "Gurgur." The ancient Assyrian name for Kirkuk was Arraphka (simply "City") and the Kurdish-Persian name is Garmian or Garmakan ("Hot Land").A geological cross-section of the Kirkuk anticline was prepared by A.C. Trowbridge, a professor of geology at the University of Iowa. Location for drilling was selected by John M. Muir, the first Chief Geologist for TPC who had considerable experience in Mexican fields. Baba Gurgur No. 1 was spudded in on 30 June, 1927 and on the early morning of 14 October 1927 the well came in with a bang. The gusher was so forceful that it took nine days to tighten the "Christmas Tree" on the well. By then, it had flowed at 95,000 barrels a day. The producing reservoir was Oligocene limestone (Kirkuk) capped by Miocene salt - a geologic setup similar to the Masjid Sulaiman and Naft Khaneh oil fields. Oil density was 36 API and sulfur content was 2%.In face of the new realties, TPC had to make new arrangements. On 31 July 1928, TPC, although still controlled by the British, came to the following composition: APOC (23.75%), Royal Dutch/Shell (23.75%), Compagnie Francaise des Petroles (23.75%), Near East Development Corporation (a joint venture of American companies - Jersey Standard, Socony, Gulf Oil, Pan-American, and Arco) (23.75%), and Mr. Gulbenkian (5%, of course)(Turkey Monarch!! ).Moreover, in the same company meeting, Gulbenkian took a red pen and drew the boundaries of the former Ottoman Empire (from Turkey as far south as Yemen) and asked the consortium members not to engage in independent exploration or production within that territory. Although the TPC members agreed to the so-called Red Line Agreement, it proved to be cause of bitter conflicts in later years and faded away as American companies withdrew from it.The Kirkuk field discovery was indeed vital for TPC. By the end of 1930, twenty producing wells were drilled at Kirkuk while numerous wells drilled in the other parts of Iraq did not produce oil (until 1937 when the Ain Zaleh field was discovered). Two wells drilled in 1927 at Palkhana to depths of about 2000 feet were suspended because of mechanical difficulties; and two more wells drilled in the following two years met only with water and high-pressure gas. Four wells drilled in the Injana structure, which was on top of De Boeckh's list, did not yield oil, either.This answer is very SYMBOLIC as there were parallel efforts of oil exploration throughout middle east the then Mesopotamia as world there was getting very unstable in terms of world wars in vision ahead ( WW1 N WW2 ).The roots of those wars found in the tug of war for grabbing more and more oil rich lands in the Mesopotamia region and the south eastern asian sub continent . Thus every monarch around Europe was looking for avenues to grab that industry much ahead of time then the other. Mesopotamian Countries were divided according to the oil rich areas found and deals made to exploit them with in the then 3 super powers !!Refer to in depth reading in GEO ExProSequence after this is much easily available on the internet which proves the insecurity of the WEST esp the European countries due to lack of Resources to sustain their own lifestyle, thus constantly impacting the political conditions in the middle east and south east Asian countries so as to facilitate their OWN business/ trade/ economic interests. After the Sun started setting on the colonial Empire around early 1900s ,the strategic plan to PARTITIONING these common wealth countries, making sure there always remains a state of instability in the region so Europe / USA can always have a upper hand in managing their affairs , was thus part of their strategy in controlling the OIL RICH middle east and south eastern Indian sub continent .No wonder cold war was ignited ( in a fight to maintain UK/ USSR/ USA supremacy)and thus Terrorism there after .All in all in-spite of being POWER HOUSE ( oil - resource RICH) Middle East and its people has failed to see the development / WELFARE in the Ratio of the amount of resources worth FOUND under THAT LAND !Only the rulers / puppet heads of the state have become rich since they were put in place TO FACILITATE THE TRADE OF OIL in the favor of the explorers who were either FROM USA OR EUROPE !!