Bitumen well in Iraq, 1930s. Men operating a pump to extract bitumen from an oil field in Iraq. Bitumen is one of the heaviest and most viscous fractions of crude oil, and is used in materials such as tar and asphalt. This area is in Gayara (Qayyarah), south of Mosul. This photograph was obtained between 26 September and 12 October 1932 by the American Colony Photo Department of Jerusalem. This was the period when the Kingdom of Iraq was established, Previously, the area had been a League of Nations mandate under British control.