maintained and improved under agreements with the Saudi Arab Government, has become a principal artery of commerce to Saudi Arabia and the whole Gulf area. Under a four-year improvement program started in 1963, the pipeline road ultimately will be asphalt-paved from Turaif to Qaisumah, where it will connect with other roads built and paved by the Saudi Arab Government. Meanwhile Turaif, nonexistent in 1945, has developed into Saudi Arabia's third largest port of entry.

Water has become an even greater factor in transforming life in the northern area of Saudi Arabia. As the pipeline was being built, the company drilled a total of 43 water wells, 24 at the main pump stations near which new communities have since mushroomed. Spaced along the pipeline and over

what was once arid I desert, the wells produce more than a billion gallons of water annually. On one summer day, the demands of villages and nomadic herds was so great that more than five million gallons of water were produced.

MOST SUPPLIES PURCHASED LOCALLY

Because its main pump stations lie in isolated areas, Tapline is faced with unusual supply problems. The company uses 40,000 different items and, because some must be ordered as far as a year in advance, maintains inventories valued as high as $4 million. Whenever possible, Tapline buys from businessmen of the countries in which it operates. In recent years, more than half of all company purchases were made through local sources.