Revisiting the Trans-Arabian Pipeline

ENAR

In the midst of all the chatter around Lebanon’s new potential oil and gas reserves offshore, an art exhibition in Karantina’s Sfeir-Semler Gallery reminds us of an era when Lebanon was a major player  in the region’s black gold. Titled “The Shortest Distance Between Two Points”, Lebanese artist Rayyane Tabet’s exhibition tells the history of Lebanon’s role in the transportation of oil. Starting in 1946 and continuing over the next three decades, oil traveled from Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, crossing Jordan and Syria to reach Zahrani in Lebanon. From there it was then exported, generating wealth for the country. The Trans-Arabian Pipeline (TAPLine) Company, a joint venture between United States oil companies Caltex, Esso and Mobil, built and operated a 1,213 km pipeline until, amid increased regional political and military conflict — including Israel’s bombing of the Zahrani terminal in 1982— it abandoned the pipes underground in 1983, the same year