This paper will argue that the emergence and the consolidation of the oil industry in Iran was only made possible by the making of a built urban environment and a modern working class. The discovery of oil in Khuzestan in 1908 was the starting point of the petroleum industry in the Middle East. The oil industry was, and continues to be, the largest industry in Iran. Yet its considerable and far-reaching social dimensions are overshadowed by the near exclusive theoretical focus--especially by the proponents of the rentier state and resource curse theories--on the (negative) economic impact of its monetary revenues on state behaviour and developmental processes. The paper will analyze the social and urban history of Abadan, Iran's first and largest oil company town, to demonstrate how the conception, the consolidation, and the continued existence of the oil industry are inextricably tied to complex social, political, and cultural processes that cannot be reduced to petroleum's economic revenues. Like any other large-scale modern industry mass-producing a commodity, the production and sale of oil requires a built environment and a reliable labour force capable of supplying the markets in a continuous and dependable way. The labour force and the spatial framework of the industry cannot be factored out once they have been produced; their maintenance and reproduction require sustained investment and social and political engagement by all parties involved. The oil industry and its workforce, its workplace politics and technical and managerial expertise, have never remained isolated from or irrelevant to the rest of the economy and society, despite continuous efforts by national governments and oil executives. The functioning of the oil industry is fraught with contestations, resistance, cooptation, and negotiation by workers, managers and state actors, national and international corporate interests. It involves local residents, family members, technocrats, social reformers, union organizers, and a host of other engaged and interested actors. Through a geographic analysis of the urban history of Abadan this paper will demonstrate how the city's physical development, its political economy, and its urban cultures have made enormous impacts on Iranian national politics and public life.