ABSTRACT
Friedrich Wilhelm Noetling (1857-1928) worked as a geologist for the Geological Survey of India. His report describes the relatively ignored early history of the Burmese oil industry. Its broad ndings are that previous estimates of the number of wells and outputs are incorrect and that production probably steadily increased from 1795 to approximately 1873, a er which there was a continuous decline until 1885 when output again rose. Towards the end of the report, Noetling writes, ‘Burma will in the close future rank amongst the most important oil-bearing countries’; a prediction that was more than ful lled. As discussed in the thematic introduction, the sector grew rapidly from the turn of the century and, by 1913, was producing approximately 250m gallons pa.1
