Kirkuk–Haifa oil pipeline

The Kirkuk–Haifa oil pipeline (also known as the Iraq–Haifa pipeline or Mediterranean pipeline) was a crude oil pipeline from the oil fields in Kirkuk, located in the former Ottoman vilayet of Mosul in northern Iraq, through Transjordan to Haifa in mandatory Palestine (now in the territory of Israel).[1][2] The pipeline was operational between 1935 and 1948. Its length was about 942 kilometres (585 mi), with a diameter of 12 inches (300 mm) (reducing to 10 and 8 inches (250 and 200 mm) in parts), and it took about 10 days for crude oil to travel the full length of the line. The oil arriving in Haifa was distilled in the Haifa refineries, stored in tanks, and then put in tankers for shipment to Europe.

Kirkuk–Haifa oil pipeline
Map of Kirkuk–Haifa oil pipeline
General information
TypeCrude oil
OperatorIraq Petroleum Company
Construction started1932
Commissioned1935
Decommissioned1948 (1954)
Technical information
Length942 km (585 mi)
Diameter12 in (305 mm)

The pipeline was built by the Iraq Petroleum Company between 1932 and 1934,[3][4] during which period most of the area through which the pipeline passed was under a British mandate approved by the League of Nations. The pipeline was one of two carrying oil from the Baba Gurgur, Kirkuk oilfield to the Mediterranean coast. The double pipeline split at Haditha (Pumping Station K3) with a second line carrying oil to Tripoli, Lebanon, which was then under a French mandate.[5] That line was built primarily to satisfy the demands of the French partner in IPC, Compagnie Française des Pétroles, for a separate line to be built across French mandated territory.

The pipeline and the Haifa refineries were considered strategically important by the British Government, and indeed provided much of the fuel needs of the British and American forces in the Mediterranean during World War II.

The pipeline was a target of attacks by Arab gangs during the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine, and as a result one of the main objectives of a joint British-Jewish Special Night Squads commanded by Captain Orde Wingate was to protect the pipeline against such attacks. Later on, the pipeline was the target of attacks by the Jewish Irgun paramilitary organisation.[6]

In 1948, with the outbreak of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the official operation of the pipeline ended when the Iraqi Government refused to pump any more oil through it.[7]

Oil pumping stations
Kirkuk–Haifa oil pipeline west end, Haifa, 1938

These were named in numerical order going westwards, with the stations from Kirkuk to Haditha denoted "K" (after Kirkuk) and the subsequent ones to the Mediterranean coast at Haifa denoted "H" (after Haifa) and those to Tripoli denoted "T".[8]

See also

References
  1. Bonné, Alfred (November 1932). "The Concessions for the Mosul-Haifa Pipe Line". Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 164: 116–126. doi:10.1177/000271623216400115. JSTOR 1018964.
  2. Iraq Petroleum Company, AN ACCOUNT OF THE CONSTRUCTION IN THE YEARS 1932 TO 1934 OF THE PIPELINE OF THE IRAQ PETROLEUM COMPANY LIMITED FROM ITS OILFIELD IN THE VICINITY OF KIRKUK TO THE MEDITERRANEAN PORTS OF HAIFA (Palestine) and TRIPOLI (Lebanon), pg. iii
  3. Iraq Petroleum Company, AN ACCOUNT OF THE CONSTRUCTION IN THE YEARS 1932 TO 1934 OF THE PIPELINE OF THE IRAQ PETROLEUM COMPANY LIMITED FROM ITS OILFIELD IN THE VICINITY OF KIRKUK TO THE MEDITERRANEAN PORTS OF HAIFA (Palestine) and TRIPOLI (Lebanon), pg. iii
  4. The History of the British Petroleum Company, p.164-165
  5. Iraq Petroleum Company, AN ACCOUNT OF THE CONSTRUCTION IN THE YEARS 1932 TO 1934 OF THE PIPELINE OF THE IRAQ PETROLEUM COMPANY LIMITED FROM ITS OILFIELD IN THE VICINITY OF KIRKUK TO THE MEDITERRANEAN PORTS OF HAIFA (Palestine) and TRIPOLI (Lebanon),
  7. U.S. checking possibility of pumping oil from northern Iraq to Haifa, via Jordan, Haaretz
  8. Iraq Petroleum Company, AN ACCOUNT OF THE CONSTRUCTION IN THE YEARS 1932 TO 1934 OF THE PIPELINE OF THE IRAQ PETROLEUM COMPANY LIMITED FROM ITS OILFIELD IN THE VICINITY OF KIRKUK TO THE MEDITERRANEAN PORTS OF HAIFA (Palestine) and TRIPOLI (Lebanon), map6

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