An American steel shipment is on its way to the Near East for the construction of an oil pipeline which will by-pass the Haifa refineries and permit oil from the fields of Iraq to flow to the Eastern Mediterranean without passing through Israel territory, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency learned today. The line would duplicate facilities presently terminating in Haifa.
This shipment, the existence of which was admitted by the Commerce Department only after repeated inquiries by the J.T.A., will aid the Arab economic boycott of the Jewish state. Completion of the new line would practically kill all hopes of ever reopening the existing pipeline to Haifa and would have a disastrous effect on the future operation of the Haifa refineries, which are now operating at only onethird capacity because of the boycott.
Although the Commerce Department originally denied the fact that American steel was en route to the Near East, State Department sources and officials of the Consolidated Western Steel Corporation of Maywood, California, admitted to the J.T.A. that the first shipment left Long Beach, California, on September 27 aboard the S.S. Middlesex Trader. The shipment was covered by a Commerce Department license issued to the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, according to officials of Western Consolidated Steel.
NEW PIPELINE WOULD BRING OIL FROM IRAQ TO SYRIA. AVOIDING ISRAEL TERRITORY
This shipment included 20 miles of pipe, weighing 7,200 tons. By the end of next week, the steel company officials said, a total of 48 miles of pipe will have been shipped with Commerce Department approval. Whe the Commerce Department changed its story, it admitted that 15,000 tons of steel had already been shipped.
Other government sources said that other Commerce Department licenses will eventually cover the export of 50,000 tons of steel for the construction of a 30-inch pipeline from the Kirkuk fields of Iraq to Banias, Syria–a total of 555 miles. Allocation of steel for the projected Near Eastern pipeline means that the United States–the only manufacturer of this size pipe–is committed to the export of 190,000 tons of steel needed to complete the project.
State Department sources said that the U.S. desires that the flow of Arab oil be expedited to Atlantic Pact countries. This indicates approval for the project despite Arab refusal to resume the flow of oil through the Haifa line which is immediately available.
Texas oil men have pointed out that the steel involved in the proposed duplicate line would make possible the drilling of 4,800 oil wells in this country. It might also be used, they said, for the completion of the West Texas-California pipeline for which steel allocations have been held up since the outbreak of the Korean war.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
