The Trans-Israel pipeline (), also Tipline, Eilat–Ashkelon Pipeline, or Europe–Asia Pipeline is an oil pipeline in

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

extending from the

Gulf of Aqaba The Gulf of Aqaba () or Gulf of Eilat () is a large gulf at the northern tip of the Red Sea, east of the Sinai Peninsula and west of the Arabian Peninsula. Its coastline is divided among four countries: Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. ...

on the

Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...

to the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

. It was originally built to transport crude oil originating from

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

inside Israel and to

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. The 254 km, 42" pipeline's capacity from a special pier in

Ashkelon Ashkelon ( ; , ; ) or Ashqelon, is a coastal city in the Southern District (Israel), Southern District of Israel on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border with the Gaza Strip. The modern city i ...

Eilat Eilat ( , ; ; ) is Israel's southernmost city, with a population of , a busy port of Eilat, port and popular resort at the northern tip of the Red Sea, on what is known in Israel as the Gulf of Eilat and in Jordan as the Gulf of Aqaba. The c ...

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manch ...

on the

is per day, and in the opposite direction. The pipeline is owned and operated by the Eilat Ashkelon Pipeline Company (EAPC) which also operates several other oil pipelines in

History

Following the

Suez crisis The Suez Crisis, also known as the Second Arab–Israeli War, the Tripartite Aggression in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel, was a British–French–Israeli invasion of Egypt in 1956. Israel invaded on 29 October, having done so w ...

, the Israeli government started the country's first crude oil pipeline between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea with a 24,000 bbl/day 8-inch pipe line from Eilat to Beersheba. Initially augmented by truck and rail transport to the Mediterranean coast and to Israel's only and underutilized refinery at Haifa, the link to the coast was completed in 1957 with a 16-inch line from Beersheba to Ashdod. Tankers were then carrying crude oil to Haifa. The final leg, a 90-mile 16-inch pipe line from Ashdod to Haifa along the coast was completed in July 1958. An expansion of capacity of the 125 mile section from the Red Sea to Beersheba was initiated in February 1960, raising the overall capacity of the system from 30,000 bbl/day to 100,000 bbl/day. The expansion coincided with the beginning of production for export at Haifa, which had been lacking a sufficient supply of crude oil since 1948 and was producing only for the local market. The large diameter pipeline was built in 1968 as a 50/50% joint-venture between Israel and Iran. However, Iran ceased using the pipeline after the overthrow of Shah

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (26 October 1919 – 27 July 1980) was the last List of monarchs of Iran, Shah of Iran, ruling from 1941 to 1979. He succeeded his father Reza Shah and ruled the Imperial State of Iran until he was overthrown by the ...

in the Iranian Islamic Revolution of 1979 and the subsequent severing of relations between the two countries. In 2003, Israel and

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

made an agreement to supply Asian markets with Russian oil delivered by tankers from

Novorossiysk Novorossiysk (, ; ) is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia. It is one of the largest ports on the Black Sea. It is one of the few cities designated by the Soviet Union as a Hero City. The population was History In antiquity, the shores of the ...

and then reloaded onto tankers in Eilat for shipment to Asia. The oil would therefore flow in the opposite direction to that intended originally. This route from Europe to Asia is shorter than the traditional one around

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

and cheaper than the one via the

Suez Canal The Suez Canal (; , ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, Indo-Mediterranean, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia (and by extension, the Sinai Peninsula from the rest ...

. In December 2014, a breach near the southern end of the pipeline led to a massive oil spill into the Evrona Nature Reserve. In September 2020, a preliminary agreement was reached to transport Emirati oil from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean through the pipeline. In May 2021, a storage tank in the Ashkelon depot of the pipeline was damaged by a rocket fired from Gaza in the

2021 Israel–Palestine crisis The 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis, sometimes called the Unity Intifada, was a major outbreak of violence in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict that mainly commenced on 10 May 2021, and continued until a ceasefire came into effect on 21 May. I ...

Legal claim by Iran

Following the seizure of the pipeline in 1979, Iran pursued a claim for compensation against Israel. On 27 June 2016, the Swiss Federal Tribunal decided the case in Iran's favor with an award of $1.1 billion plus interest.

References

External links

Eilat Ashkelon Pipeline Company
{{Authority control 1968 establishments in Israel Oil pipelines in Israel Iran–Israel relations

History

Legal claim by Iran

See also

References

External links