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{{Short description|Oil pipeline}}
{{More citations needed|date=January 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2023}}
[[File:Tapline.png|right|thumb|300px|Trans-Arabian Pipeline Map]]
The '''Trans-Arabian Pipeline''' ('''Tapline'''), was an [[oil pipeline]] from [[Qaisumah]] in [[Saudi Arabia]] to [[Sidon]] in [[Lebanon]], active 1950–1976. In its heyday, it was an important factor in the [[global trade]] of [[petroleum]], as well as in American–Middle Eastern political relations, while locally helping with the economic development of Lebanon. The pipeline was built and operated by the Trans-Arabian Pipeline Company, now a fully owned subsidiary of [[Aramco]]. It largely ceased functioning in 1983<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Saudi-Aramco|title=Saudi Aramco
|encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Britannica|author=Adam Zeidan}}</ref> and completely stopped operating in 1990.
Tapline was the second long distance oil pipeline built in the Middle East outside of Iran. The [[Iraq Petroleum Company]] had completed the twin 12-inch [[Kirkuk-Haifa oil pipeline]] in 1934 and already laid a 16-inch loop in 1948-1949 and reached a nameplate capacity of 250,000 barrels per day. IPC had to shut down half of it when Iraq refused to cooperate with Israel. Once finished with the Tapline project, Bechtel went on to construct [[Kirkuk-Baniyas pipeline|a 30-inch loop]] to the Iraq pipeline, which had a capacity of 300,000 barrels per day and was finished in April 1952.
Since the [[1967]] [[six day war|Arab-Israeli War]], the section of the pipepline which runs through the Golan Heights came under Israeli control, though the Israelis permitted the pipeline's operation to continue. After years of constant bickering between Saudi Arabia and Syria and Lebanon over transit fees, the emergence of oil [[supertanker|supertankers]], and pipeline breakdowns, the section of the line beyond [[Jordan]] ceased operation in 1976. The remainder of the line between Saudi Arabia and Jordan continued to transport modest amounts of petroleum until 1990 when the Saudis cut off the pipeline in response to Jordan's support of [[Iraq]] during the [[first Gulf War]]. Today, the entire section of the line is unfit for oil transport.▼
==History==
Despite these problems, the Tapline has remained a potential export route for [[Persian Gulf]] oil exports to Europe and the United States. At least one analysis has indicated that the transportation cost of exporting oil via the Tapline through [[Haifa]] to Europe would cost as much as 40 percent less than shipping by tanker through the [[Suez Canal]]. In early 2005, rehabilitation of the Tapline at an estimated cost of $100 to $300 million was one of the strategic options being considered by the Jordanian government to meet oil needs.[http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/eastmed.html EIA] ▼
[[File:Flying over the Trans-Arabian Pipeline.jpg|thumb|Trans-Arabian Pipeline in 1950]]
[[File:Tapline pipe, 1947.jpg|thumb|Welding the pipes, circa 1947]]
Construction of the Trans-Arabian Pipeline began in 1947 and was mainly managed by the American company [[Bechtel]]. [[Consolidated Steel]] of Los Angeles was contracted to provide 980 miles of 30 and 31-inch pipe in sections 31 feet long in March 1947 (date of press notice) and the [[National Tube Company]] of Pittsburgh (a [[U.S. Steel]] subsidiary) for another 70 miles.<ref name="pmr_47_3_114">{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/pacificmarinerev4447paci/page/n295/mode/1up|title=Contracts Let for Big Oil Pipeline in Arabia|magazine=Pacific Marine Review|date=March 1947|page=114}}</ref> This was the second pipe contract for Consolidated, then still busy with their plant's inaugural 214 mile 30-inch section of the Texas-California pipeline. Originally the Tapline was intended to terminate in [[Haifa]], which was then in the [[Mandatory Palestine|British Mandate of Palestine]], but due to the establishment of the state of [[Israel]], an alternative route through [[Syria]] ([[Golan Heights]]) and Lebanon was selected with an export terminal in Sidon.<ref name=branf>{{cite book
|year=2020|author=Brandon Friedman|title=The End of Pax Britannica in the Persian Gulf, 1968-1971|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|___location=Cham |isbn=978-3-030-56182-6|page=117|url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56182-6|doi=10.1007/978-3-030-56182-6}}</ref> The 12-inch Haifa branch and the almost completed 16-inch loop line of the [[Kirkuk–Haifa oil pipeline]] had to shut down in April 1948 due to the regional conflict, and it never opened again.
The Syrian government initially opposed the plan. Four days after a [[March 1949 Syrian coup d'état|military coup]] that overthrew democratic rule the deal was ratified. The coup's leader [[Husni al-Za'im]] was overthrown and murdered 136 days later, but the project was unstoppable.<ref>{{cite book |last1= Barr |first1= James |author-link= James Barr (author) |title= Lords of the Desert: Britain's Struggle with America to Dominate the Middle East |page= 103 |date= 2018 |publisher= Simon & schuster |isbn= 9781471139796 }}</ref>
== External links ==▼
* [http://almashriq.hiof.no/lebanon/300/380/388/tapline/ Tapline overview and history]▼
During the [[Suez crisis]] the biggest artery for oil, the Suez canal, was shut down. The [[Kirkuk–Baniyas pipeline]]'s (together with the parallel 12-inch and 16-inch Tripoli line's) three pumping stations on Syrian soil were sabotaged. Tapline was not affected and continued to transport 340,000 [[Barrel (unit)|bbl]]/day. A modernization program including the installation of four 5,000hp gas turbine auxiliary pumps in existing stations with a planned increase by 90,000 bbl/day was underway.<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=The Oil and Gas Journal |volume=54 |issue=83 |date=3 December 1956 |title=Big Inch Lines Through Turkey Studied |page=67 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_oil-gas-journal_1956-12-03_54_83/page/67/mode/1up?q=%22being%20American%20owned%22}}</ref> The Saudi government had however forbidden the loading of British and French tankers at Sidon and had cut off the 200,000 barrel per day refinery of the [[Bahrain Petroleum Company]] from its supply of Saudi Arabian oil amounting to 170,000bpd.<ref>{{cite report |title=Current Intelligence Bulletin: 1. Middle East Oil Problems |date=12 November 1956 |page=3 |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency |url=https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP79T00975A002800200001-8.pdf}}</ref>
Since the 1967 [[Six-Day War]], the section of the pipeline which runs through the [[Golan Heights]] came under [[Israeli-occupied territories|Israeli control]], though the Israelis permitted the pipeline's operation to continue. The pipeline was attacked and damaged by the [[Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine]] on 31 May 1969.<ref name=branf/> Due to the attack tons of oil spilt into the [[Sea of Galilee]] and both Aramco and the Saudi government lost significant revenues.<ref name=branf/>
▲
[[File:Pipeline Arar.jpg|thumb]]
==Technical features==
The Trans-Arabian Pipeline was {{convert|1214|km|mi|0}} long with a diameter of {{convert|30|in|mm|-1}} and 31 inches. When constructed, it was the world's largest oil pipeline system. The initial capacity of the pipeline was {{convert|300000|oilbbl/d|m3/d}} (bpd), eventually rising to a maximum capacity of about {{convert|500000|oilbbl/d|m3/d|abbr=on}} with the addition of several more pumping stations. While the pipeline was considered groundbreaking and innovative at the time it was built, were it still operational to this day it would be considered somewhat outdated — nowadays, most modern long-distance pipelines constructed beginning in the second half of the twentieth century have been built to a diameter of {{convert|42|in|mm|-1}} or {{convert|48|in|mm|-1}} and are thus able to transport considerably more crude oil per day than Tapline did in its heyday. The pipeline was supplied from the oil fields near [[Abqaiq]].{{citation needed|date=January 2021}}
[[File:Salalah to Somerset 1982 - Saudi Arabia.jpg|thumb|The pipeline in 1982, still buried]]
▲
==Pipeline company==
The pipeline was built and operated by the Trans-Arabian Pipeline Company.<ref>{{cite book | last=Oraizi | first=M. A. | title=Amérique, pétrole, domination: Hégémonie anglo-saxonne et duels des empires pétroliers | publisher=Editions L'Harmattan | publication-place=Paris | date=2012 | isbn=978-2-296-96286-6 | language=fr | pages=25, 45-55, 94, 124-129}}</ref> It was founded as a [[joint venture]] between [[Standard Oil of New Jersey]] (now [[ExxonMobil]]), [[Standard Oil of California]] ([[Chevron Corporation|Chevron]]), the Texas Company (better known as [[Texaco]], now a part of Chevron), and [[Mobil|Socony-Vacuum Oil Company]] (now part of ExxonMobil), however, it eventually became a fully owned subsidiary of [[Aramco]]. The company continued operating with no oil being transported until the end of 2002, when Aramco fully closed the Tapline subsidiary.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}}
==Tapline Road==
''For the section of the road under Israeli control see: [[Petroleum Road]]''
[[File:Saudi Arabia transport map.jpg|thumb|80px|Saudi Arabia transport map depicting Tapline Road as the northernmost road running along the Iraq-Saudi Border]]
Tapline Road is the major east-west two lane highway running the length of Saudi Arabia from [[Turaif]], on [[Saudi Arabia]]'s border with [[Jordan]], in the west, to [[Qaisumah]], on the Persian Gulf, in the east. It was so named because it parallels the Trans-Arabian Pipeline. The Tapline Road was, on average, only 50 kilometers from Saudi Arabia's northern border<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://almashriq.hiof.no/lebanon/300/380/388/tapline/general/war-diary.html|title = Børre Ludvigsen Web Archive}}</ref> for a distance of 514 miles or 827.2 kilometers.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://archive.aramcoworld.com/issue/196702/desert.road.htm| title = Saudi Aramco World : Desert Road}} </ref> Initially only a dirt and gravel road used by ARAMCO and the Saudi Government it was widened and paved by 1965 due to use by civilian and commercial traffic. It was incorporated into the Saudi Highway system in 1965<ref>{{cite web| url = https://archive.aramcoworld.com/issue/196702/desert.road.htm| title = Saudi Aramco World : Desert Road}} </ref> when it was extended into [[Dammam]]. Since Tapline Road is a semi-private road mostly maintained by Aramco, and has been assigned the number 6335 until it meets [[Highway 85 (Saudi Arabia)|Highway 85 (King Fahd Road)]] where-after it is maintained by the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Transport, it remains Highway 85 until near the Jordanian border where it meets [[Highway 65 (Saudi Arabia)|Highway 65]], in [[Qurayyat, Saudi Arabia|Qurayyat]] and crosses the Jordanian Border at [[Umari, Jordan|Umari]] and becomes [[Highway 30 (Jordan)|Jordanian Highway 30]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.google.com/maps/place/Tapline+Road+Saudi+Arabia/@27.262251,48.9919235,598m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x3e35a96a8e9da6f1:0x8a1e30a99e0925ff!8m2!3d26.8995635!4d49.4584457|title = Tapline Rd · Saudi Arabia}}</ref> Tapline Road/Highway 85 is deemed the longest straight road in the world.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dangerousroads.org/around-the-world/our-lists/3759-the-10-longest-straight-roads-in-the-world.html|title = Longest straight roads in the world}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=24 May 2017 |title=top 5 longest straight roads |url=https://drivetribe.com/p/top-5-longest-straight-roads-QYpO9cfxSOa5G6870tSkSA?iid=DJkhJD3aQfyc0IOIwtVfoA |url-status=live |archive-date=10 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210710073519/https://drivetribe.com/p/top-5-longest-straight-roads-QYpO9cfxSOa5G6870tSkSA}} </ref>
==See also==
{{Portal|Jordan|Saudi Arabia|Lebanon|Energy}}
*[[East–West Crude Oil Pipeline]]
*[[Arab Gas Pipeline]]
*[[Kirkuk–Haifa oil pipeline]], active 1935–1948
*[[Petroleum Road]]
*[[March 1949 Syrian coup d'état]]
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Commons category}}
▲* [https://web.archive.org/web/20200127103425/http://almashriq.hiof.no/lebanon/300/380/388/tapline
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20200127103425/http://almashriq.hiof.no/lebanon/300/380/388/tapline/pipeline-periscope/ Tapline's magazine, the "Pipeline Periscope" from 1953-1974.]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wsigc0NXUPA “Oil Across Arabia”, a 1950 Bechtel company documentary.]
{{Saudi Arabia topics}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Oil pipelines in Lebanon]]
[[Category:Oil pipelines in Jordan]]
[[Category:Oil pipelines in Syria]]
[[Category:Oil pipelines in Saudi Arabia]]
[[Category:Roads in Saudi Arabia]]
[[Category:Saudi Aramco]]
[[Category:Jordan–Saudi Arabia relations]]
[[Category:Jordan–Syria relations]]
[[Category:Saudi Arabia–Syria relations]]
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