first experimental well started producing 10 tonnes (about 62 barrels) per day from 6 June 1940. The field was expanded for commercial production by 1945, but the production was delayed to 1947 by the lack of storage. A small refinery was built at the site with a capacity of 9 tonnes/day by 1947 and by November 1948 a bigger refinery capable of processing up to 200 tonnes/day was built in Batman. Even bigger refinery (330 tonnes/d) was built in Batman by 1955. Several other oil fields were later discovered in the province with the Batı Raman oil field, which produces about 7,000 barrels daily, being the largest oil field in Turkey. A long oil pipeline was brought in 1967 from Batman to the port city of Dörtyol near the easternmost point of the Mediterranean coast to transport the Batman crude oil. The pipeline has an annual capacity of 3.5 million tonnes and was transporting about 20 million barrels (about 2.7 million tonnes) in the 1990s and about twice less between 2003 and 2007. Another, short () pipeline connected Batman with Şelmo – the location of the second largest oil field in Turkey. It was transferring between 1.5 and 0.5 million barrels per year in the period 1990–2007. Both pipelines are operated by BOTAŞ. Batman dam The Batman dam construction was started in 1986 and completed in 1999. It has a height of 85 meters and annual power generation capacity of 483 GWh (peak power 198 MW). The associated reservoir has a surface area of 49 km2 and a volume of 1.175 km3. The dam supplies water for the area of . Famous personalities Karapetê Xaço (1900–August 2005) – traditional singer of Kurdish Dengbêj music Cigerxwîn (1903–1984) – Kurdish poet, writer, journalist, historian, lexicographer and nationalist. Ali Rıza Alan (born 1947) – wrestler Ibrahim Bilgen (1949–2010) – politician, electrical engineer and activist. Hüseyin Kalkan (born 1950) – former mayor of Batman city Hüseyin Velioğlu (1952–2000) – leader of the Kurdish Hezbollah Mehmet Şimşek (born 1967) – politician, former Minister of Finance of Turkey Nalin Pekgul (born 1967) – politician Ayşe Acar Başaran (born 1985) – politician Mehmet Demir – politician Alan Ciwan – actor Şehmus Hazer – professional basketball player Sevgi Yorulmaz (born 1982) – Paralympic archer Mansur Çalar (born 1986) – footballer Nurullah Kaya (born 1986) – footballer Ahmet Arı (born 1989) – footballer Erdal Akdarı (born 1993) – footballer