- published: 05 Nov 2011
- views: 197233
Dukhan is an industrial city in the western municipality of Al Rayyan in the State of Qatar. It is approximately 60 kilometres (37 mi) west of the capital, Doha. Dukhan is administrated by Qatar's state oil agency Qatar Petroleum and is the site of the first oil discovery in Qatar.
All the industrial operations inside the city are administrated by the Dukhan Operations Department. A special permit from Qatar Petroleum, in the form of a Dukhan entry gate pass, is required for entry to the city. A four-lane motorway connects Doha with Dukhan.
In Mike Morton's book In the Heart of the Desert, he notes that Dukhan is known as 'smoky mountain' (Jebel Dukhan) because its oil camps were engulfed with smoke from the nearby refineries.
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. Oil operations were temporarily shut down during World War II.
Downstairs they're playing Kenton
The house set to swing
I lay in my bed
And listen to everything
Cause Leo's in rare form tonight
His trombone sings so sweet
This is the room
Where they all come to meet
He said
I do what I can
I live for the moment
And that's who I am
Yeah that's who I am
And isn't it good
If we could freeze moments in time
We all would
But I do what I can
I do what I can
Downstairs he's playing Kenton
The Magnavox sighs
But oh how the music has changed
In all of our lives
He says "nobody listens
To modern jazz"
And I'll never have what those guys have
He says
I do what I can
I work for a living
And that's who I am
Yeah that's who I am
And it's good to be alive
But everything's different since Leo died
I do what I can
Is this the end of the modern world
What could it mean for a young girl
Who sees the pain on his face
He does what he can
The procession on the TV screen
What could it possibly mean for a man
Who's come this far just to turn around
Could there still be life in Kenton's swing
With the Kennedys gone and everything
Those sad rows of houses with their optimistic colors
Democrat grandparents and draft-dodging brothers
Riots down the street and discontented mothers
We do what we can
Downstairs it's quiet
Less alive somehow
Somehow he was everything that I am now
And he says
I do what I can
I work for a living
And that's who I am
And that's who I am
But it's good to be alive
And these are the choices
We make to survive