Company House - Msheireb Museums

This guide to Company House in Doha's Msheireb district traces the story that began in 1939, when a drilling crew struck oil far out in the desert at Dukhan, and turns to how this building became the headquarters of Qatar's first oil company. It follows the workers recruited here who had to leave Doha for the oil field, living apart from their families for stretches at a time, in what the museum's own accounts single out as the hardest part of the job. The Second World War froze development for five years, and Qatar did not ship its first barrel until a decade after the strike at Dukhan.