The longest pipeline in the Middle East and one of the great pipeline systems of the world, Tapline is a far-flung complex of steel, men and machines stretching from the soft, shifting sands of Eastern Saudi Arabia to the rocky coastline of Lebanon on the Eastern Mediterranean.

Tapline's primary job is the transportation of crude oil by means of its 30 and 31 -inch diameter pipeline. From Qaisumah, Saudi Arabia, starting point of the line, the oil is pumped 1,213 kilometers to the company's marine terminal south of Sidon, Lebanon. There, from four deepwater berths offshore, tankers of all sizes and many flags take on cargoes of crude oil for the final stage in its transportation to Western European or North and South American markets.

Completed in December, 1950, at a total cost of $153 million, Tapline is moving toward the twobillionbarrel mark in total oil transported. Subsequent improvements have increased the total investment in Tapline to nearly $190 million.

The Trans-Arabian Pipe Line Company is owned by four major United States companies: Standard Oil Company of California, Texaco, Inc. and Standard Oil Company (New Jersey), which each own 30 per cent; and Socony-Mobil Oil Company, which owns 10 per cent.

The shares of these four companies, which also own the Arabian American Oil Company (Aramco), are held, in turn, by more than one and one-quarter million private investors in many lands.

Tapline's principal facilities are its 30 and 31 -inch diameter pipeline, fabricated from 265,000 tong of steel plate; four main pump stations and four

intermediate auxiliary pumping units; and the terminal south of the ancient Phoenician city of Sidon. The main community-type stations, pockets of a new civilization spotted across the vast northern Saudi Arabian desert and gravel plains at intervals of about 270 kilometers, are located at Qaisumah, Rafha, Badanah and Turaif (see map, page 3). Three of the intermediate pumping units are portable combustion turbines, automatically operated and controlled by radio from the main stations. The fourth is a similar unit permanently located at Qaryatain, Jordan, between Turaif and Sidon.

Crude oil produced and gathered by Aramco from its fields in eastern Saudi Arabia enters the Tapline system at Qaisumah for the overland short cut journey to Sidon.

Under normal operating conditions, Tapline is capable of transporting a sustained daily average of about 480,000 barrels of crude. Greater amounts can be moved during shorter, peak periods.

Tapline normally employs 1,100 persons, approximately 90 per cent of whom were recruited in the four countries through which the pipeline passes. Most of the company's employees were trained by Tapline for the 330 different types of jobs they hold. At any given time, a large percentage of the employees are being trained for higher positions.

Tapline directs its over-all operations from its main offices in Beirut, Lebanon. A field office in Turaif directs operations in Saudi Arabia and Jordan, while a small New York City office carries out liaison with the owner companies and assists with supply and technical problems.