Dukhan (ville)

Dukhan (دخان) is a city in the western municipality of Al-Shahaniya in the State of Qatar. It is approximately west of the capital, Doha. Dukhan is administrated by Qatar's state oil agency QatarEnergy and is the site of the first oil discovery in Qatar. It was previously a part of Al Rayyan municipality. All the industrial operations inside the city are administrated by the Dukhan Operations Department. A special permit from QatarEnergy, in the form of a Dukhan entry gate pass, is required for entry to the city. Dukhan Highway, a four-lane motorway that runs for approximately 66 km, connects the city with Doha. In Mike Morton's biography, In the Heart of the Desert, it is noted that the English translation of Dukhan is 'smoky mountain' (Jebel Dukhan), a reference to the clouds that gathered around its summit, and colloquially to the smoke emanating from gas flares around the oil camp named after it. Dukhan Field Oil exploration in the Dukhan area began in 1935. In 1937, oil was struck in Dukhan; making it the first substantial oil reserve to be discovered in the peninsula. Construction on Dukhan's first oil well began in 1939 and was finished the next year. The original settlement was built as an oil camp for personnel of the Qatar Petroleum Company (today QatarEnergy). Oil operations were temporarily shut down during World War II. Supplies such as freshwater and food, as well as machinery, were imported from Bahrain through the shallow-water Zekreet Harbor, positioned slightly northward on the Bay of Zekreet. On 31 December 1949, Dukhan exported its first barrel of oil. On 28 March 1953, a massive fire erupted at well DK35, which was drilling the Arab-D reservoir. The full development of Dukhan's oil fields was completed in 1954. The city’s development entered a new stage of development when the Dukhan power station was commissioned in 1958, and when natural gas was found in the Khuff Reservoir the following year at an average depth of 10,000 feet. Over the next few decades Dukhan’s growth continued a steady pace.