FEAT OF ENGINEERING

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 92, 16 October 1934, Page 9

FEAT OF ENGINEERING

The Syrian Desert has become the stage of one of the'most remarkable undertakings of modern times —the laying of the pipeline which is to convey petroleum from the oilfields of Northern Irak, near Mosul, to the Mediterranean, and thus to the markets of the West, wrote Arthur Morton in the London "Daily Telegraph" recently. I have just paid a visit to tho scene of operations. The lino starts from Kirkuk, where is situated tho area administered by the Irak Petroleum Company, and from Kirkuk a. double line of piping runs some hundred and fifty miles into the desert to Haditha. There it divides, the larger proportion of the oil passing by one lino through Irak and British-controlled territory to tho port of Haifa. The balance will be conveyed by a branch line through Syria to Tripoli. ' The total pipeline is something like 1200 miles in length. It is costing some £10,000,000, and its construction far surpasses anything of tho kind in the known engineering history of tho world. We drove over a hundred miles along the line. No matter how often we were forced to deviate owing to rough going or watercourses, there were telephone poles marking the course of the pipeline, continuing their march in a relentlessly straight line towards the horizon. At Kirkuk wo saw tho "stub end" of the pipes awaiting connection with the terminal pumping station, which in duo course will bo linked with .such of the wells —there are at present thiityiive—as it may bo desired to use at any given time. A hundred yards away these pipes disappear into tho sand to emerge again on the shores of the Mediterranean, where tin, petroleum they will bring to the surface will citlicr be shipped in tankers to Western markets or stored in vast tanks, where, after refining, it will be pumped into oil-burning ships. At intervals pumping stations will give tho necessary impetus to (lie westward flow of petroleum along the pipes. Tanks will take off tho overflow if more is coming through the pipea than the adjacent pumping station can handle. LAYING THE LINE. These pumping stations and the telephone wire running alongside the track will be the only outward and visible evidence of the presence underground of the pipeline. There is surely something to stir tho imagination in the thought of this unseen passage of anything up to four million tons of petroleum every year from its source in Northern Irak several hundred miles under the desert, into tho world beyond. In its almost magical character the undertaking has something peculiarly in keeping with the mystical atmosphere of tho East. For convenience in handling, the piping is cut into lengths of! 3G-40 fc*ct, each weighing 15cwt. Over 160,000 lengths, weighing 120,000 tons, will' have to be dealt with before the line is completed. All these pipes have to bo welded together on the field, and they have also to bo treated specially against corrosion. There are special "ditchers" for excavating the trenches, machines for lifting the pipes into position before welding, contrivances for treating the. pipe with enamel to preserve it, and, finally, an ingenious machine for wrapping tho pipe (just before it is placed in tho earth snakewiae to allow for expansion and contraction) with special paper which protects it against the action of salts. SPECIAL TREATMENT. The transport of all the material has also called for special treatment. Enormous lorries, each capable of carrying as many as twenty-seven pipes, or some twenty tons, have had to be designed. To ensure continuity of delivery along tho lino "trains" have been organised, each consisting of a tractor, two or more 20-ton caterpillar trailers, and a sort of caravan coach. A "train" carries three crews. One drives while tho other two rest and feed in the coach. Thus the "train" can work, for twenty-four hours on end. The lino progressed at the astounding rate of three-quarters of a mile per day. No praise can be too high for the small band of Englishmen and Americans who are carrying out these operations, or for the several thousand Irakis under them. These tribesmen have never beforo used a shovel or done any disciplined work, but they are cooperating in a manner which > augurs well for tho future development, of Irak. The hope is that the work will be completed, pipe-laying, pumping stations, and all, by the remarkably early date of December 31, 1034.

It is clear that motor transport across tho desert will undergo considerable development in the very near future. Tho pumping stations, 100 miles distant from each other, with their own supplies of transport fuel, means of communication with tho terminal stations at Haifa, and Kirkuk, and their tribal guards, constitute an ideal chain of relay points for desert travel.