December 1967

PIPELINE

Vol. 18 • No.6. Trans-ARABIAN PIPE LINE COMPANY, BEIRUT, LEBANON

Floods Sweep Stations, Causing Pipeline Leak &Road Washouts

Yes, this is a pilot's eye-vie1c of Badanah station inundated by the torrential.-aillS of mid-November. Note the ,wshed-out road (right) allli the "submerged"part of the station-namely, the hospital and GO"emment Relatiolls office (center) alld the storeyard (joregroulld). This alld other photographs all pages-1,5 and 6 of the ,eettest six days ever seen alollg the pipeli,,, ill Salldi Arabia ,cere taken by G. H. Calloles, K. Nasr alld other ullidentified camerafailS in Qaisumah, Rafha alld Badallah.

Winter brought freak weatherand torrential rains to widelyseparated parts of Saudi Arabia inmid-November.

Three main pump stations-Qaisumah, Rafha and Bada­nah-and their adjacent townsbore the brunt of the ragingstorms and Aoods which leftincalculable damage behind, in­cluding a major pipeline leak,pipeline road washouts, Aoodedbasements, bursting banks, drag­ged-along cars and carried-awayfurniture and supplies.

The ground Aoor of the com­pany hospital and the Govern­ment Relations office at Badanahpump station were Aooded withseveral inches of muddy waterand the hospital patients had tobe evacuated.

A deluge of 3.1 inches of rain

was reported to have fallen in thesix-day period extending fromNov. 14 to the 19th in the Qaisu­mah area. Total rainfall registeredduring the same wet period atRafha and Badanah was 2.55 and1.8 inches, respectively.

The average annual rainfallfigures for the three localitiesrarely exceed four inches.

I t was under such very severeweather conditions and torrentialrains that a pipeline leak at Km.517, between Rafha and Badanah,occurred on Nov. 16.

Under normal weather andconstant operating conditions, amajor pipeline leak may cause asudden drop of pressure andIIlcrease in Aow at the pumpstation upstream. In rainyweather, however, a shower ofrain on a pipeline section between

two stations may produce asimilar effect.

At about 1100 hours on themorning of Thursday, Kov. 16.the Pumphouse operator at Rafhareported to the Beirut Oil Dis­patcher a sudden reduction ofabout 50 pounds per square inchin the discharge pressure of theUwaigiJah Auxiliary PumpingUnit, and an increase of Aow ofabout 300 barrels per hour. TheRafha discharge pressure alsodropped by about 25 pounds pcrsquare inch.

The Beirut Oil Dispatcherimmediately investigated whetherany pressure adjustments hadbeen made at Badanah whichmight explain this sudden change.As no immediate explanation wasavailable, the Tapline aircraftwhich happened to be on a flight

to Qaisumah, was alerted to lookout for a possible leak betweenRafha and Badanah.

At about 1530 hours, theTapline aircraft reported a largepool of oil at a location about 60kilometers east of Badanah.

Immediate access to the leaksite was impossible due to the factthat the unprecedented heavyrains had created several roadwashouts on both sides of theleak location.

A "Beaver" aircraft, capable ofcarrying five passengers and oflanding on a relatively short strip,was thus requested from Aramcoto assist in the repair operation.

The Beaver arrived in Badanahat about 1400 hours on Friday,

Nov. 17, and commuted several

(Continued all page 8)

PlPELIl"E PERISCOPE PlPELI:\,E PERISCOPE Page 3

The nIght of black cats, Jack-o'­lanterns, hob/(obltns, trick or treatand nnging door bells was celeb­rated by the youn/( and old atTuralf and Badanah, respe ti\cly,on Oct. 31.

Turalf's Iiallo\\ een Party \\ a .sponsored b) the GIrls ScoutTroup and the Brownies at theC;uest I louse.

The children competed forthree costun1e pnzes: the most

repre"'ntatl\'e of I Iallo\\een, \\onby BeniC :\ lakkll1Je (a pumpkin);the funnIest, \\ on by Robin\'erhoC'wn (a c1<l\\n); and thelllost ong-Illal, \\ on by Brenda Let.'

Ilarch\ Ick (a turtle).

Johnnie Rosquist and Tor Iln­tnannsson \\ on prizt·s for g~lnlt's

played

Katht.°nne I,()(:nn.:u.:h gavt.' .t

t,llk to e,plall1 \\hy the C,,,I,",couts el'lebratC' Iiallowec·n.

The chlldn'n \\ere tre,Hlel to.. Slopp\ J lies" ,Illd ~oda Pop by\ Ieselames L. T. orton, J L.

Koenrl'lch, S. aJJ'" and R.BIanchI before startll1~ on thltn.llhttonal "trick or treat" call\-as

of thC' statull1 \\ tth :\IesdamesBianchI, :\Jakkll1Jl', auar and \\'.R. !\loore.

EMlter on Oct. 29, :\Ir . Ikll1ch ,and \ Irs. C. Scharn co-hosted apre-Ilal1<J\\een bndge part) at thehome of :\1". Scharn. :\Irs. :\1. .-\.Kearney and :\1rs. :-'aJJar walkedaway \\ Ith the bnd/(l' prizes \\ htle:\Irs. L. T. ,orton anel \Irs.:\ lakkll1Je fiOlshed first, second 111

a specIal hat contest Impro\lsedby the hosts. In fact, one \\eekbefore the reunion, each glH.'~t

rece1\ed a ba/( of paper ,]Tttcles\\ Ith a request to make out ,I hatfor the party.

At Badanah, the Iiallo\\eenParty was hosted by John Torres,11. D. Gtllespie, Steward Trueand the D. D. Coles.

The II. Ilar/(ro\es, dressed asgrandparents, won the top prize.

Other ori/(inal costumes wercsported by the Coles (ttgers),:\1rs. Ed Wright (JamaIcan /(irl),II. Soley (lemonade seller), 11.Jensen (cowboy), Mrs. 1. Kibla\\i(:\Ioroccan pnncess), Dr. '-:. Turk(king of I{)\e), :\Iiss \deleChoue"i (queen of Ion), 1\1Iss:\'ountza Bakarian (~elsha), :\IissItidal Ihndi (IndIan girl), Tony\'an Del' lIam (pirate), '\IissBerta KeshIshian ( 'Ieopatra), JoeKru/(er (baby), R. :\leyer (Cau­casian), :\Irs. :\Ieyer (Indonesianlady), Adrianus \'erhoe\,en (In­dian fakIr), Mrs. \'erhoe\'en (girlfrom outer space), the II. Slot­booms (Flintstones) and l\lissDaniella Bo\\e (Italian gyp y) .

HALLOWEEN

Weddinl? bells sOl/nded Sept. 30 at St. George's Greek Orthudox Chl/rchill Beirul fur Dr . •'1.. 1. Baroody of TI/raif alld the former JIm Jacql/elineSaa/v. Dr. Bmoodl' is the SOil of .\Ir. alld .\Irs.. Iziz Baroody. Thebride'if the dal/ghter ~f .\Ir'. Jacob Saaty alld the lale .1fr. Saaty. A 1ceddlllgrecep/loll "'as held a/ tlte Coral Beaclt Holel IT, Beirut (ab01'e). The COl/piesl/bseqllen/ly left on a Ellropean hOlleymooll, retl/TIIill1? to Tllraif ill early.Y01·ember. (Ph% by K . .Ya 1').

Badanah:\1. Ali al-Kuwailit of Operations

and Repair, Station

RafllllC. P. Booth of OperatIons and

Repai rs, StationS. l\luhammad of Operations and

RepairsK. AI'dallah Saleh of Operations

and Repairs

S,doll:\01. A. Dirani of larineE. S. Majdalani of Operations

GeneralTI/ral!

Z. T. al- haziri of C. E. & I.

Qaisl/mah:\1. E. Ahmaj i\Iubarak of Opera­

tions and RepairsI!. M. Shumari of Operations

and Repairs

Rafha:\1. !\Iisfer of Operations and

RepairsTI/ral!

M. II. Ghamdi of Operations andRepairs, StationThe 10-year pin recipients

were:

These eager gllardians '4 allthm/ic Hallo,,'een traditIOn at Badanah are, f'I/m h:ft, Dr. lI. Il'a 1I1/ll , "/rs. 1.Kihlmci, "1m .~nl?elle .Irpajian and "frs. H. Siothoom.

Four Tapliners earned three­star emblems in :\'o\'ember forchaIkin/( up 15 vears of continuousC0l11pany sen"icc.

Seven other employces com­pleted 10 years of sen'ice eachduring the same period.The I.'-year pin recipients\\erc.

SERVICE STARS

462.5305.6510.8

PERATIONS

(Editor's Xote: Tltis article, publislted il1 lite Allba .,1/ PetrolXen'sleller of .\'01'. J5, 1WS originally pllblished in the Institllte of

Pet roleum RI'1.·ierr).The subject of the effect of tanker size on cost is currently of

increasing interest. For 23 years until 1944, the \\orld's largest tanker\\ as only 22,600 deadweight tons. :\'0\\, another 23 years later, a \ esseIof 209,000 tons is in scn ice and six of 312,000 tons are on order.Studies of 500,000 deadwei/(ht ton tankcrs ha\ e been made, an otlcompany is understood to ha\'e been considering vessels of 800,000tons, and It has been stated that technically there is no insuperableproblem in build in/( a 1,000,000-tonner. \\'hat may be the effect of this

trend on international otl'The general subject of the new economics of tanker size and cost

was covered in the 'ewsletter of • eptember 15, 1967.Further andmore detailed information is no\\ a\'ailable although it is emphasizedthat the ligures are necessarily estimates because up till no\\ only onetanker larger than 200,000 dead\\eight tons is in operation. (At this

time nearly 150 huge tankers have been ordered).The first case is between Ku\\ait and Japan where the Suez

Canal is not im·oh-ed. The estimated rates per ton are as follo\\ s:

100,000 2.34200,000 $1.60300,000 1.38500,000 1.11

The second case is between KUWaIt and Rotterdam. Here theSuez Canal i. im'olved and an estimate is gi\'en for an 80,000 dead­\\eight ton tanker \\hich is the extreme largest that can transit theCanal fully loaded. Plans for deepening the Canal in the future aretaken into account in the last t\\ 0 items of the table. Alternates are/(iven fer the Canal and for the longer TOute around the Cape of GoodIlope:

80,000 Canal both \\ays $3.83100,000 Canal empty-Cape full 3.50200,000 Canal empty-Cape full 2.53300,000 Cape only 2.33500,000 Cape only 1.85

(100,000 Suez only - 1972 3.39)(200,000 Suez only - 1975 2.82)

The first five rates sho\\ progressive reductions in the cost per ton.It is then found that \\ hilst it would be slightly cheaper to usc the100,000-tonner via Suez in both directions than via the Cape loadedand Suez in ballast, the re\'erse is actually the case for the 200,000­tonner. The reason is the figure reached for Canal dues when scalingup for tanker size on the basis of the current charges. This leads to theconclusion that there may need to be an adjustment in the basis ofthese charges to make the Canal route more competitive for the largersized tankers.

The broad conclusion is that there is an undeniable direct savingin transportation costs for each increase in size, such saving, however,becoming progressively smaller. (Nevertheless, a saving of, for example,an additional 50 cents a ton on 500,000 tons several times a year, totalsto a considerable figure.)

Tanker Size & Transport Cost

The latest forecast for :'\o\ember offtakers' Iiftings, including

:\Iedreco, is 529,000 barrels per day.

Veal' /967 Year /966Throllgh Throllgh

October Oclober OClober

I. Sidon Receipts-i\IBD 465.7 302.6 459.5

2. Deli veries-M BDOfhakers Ships 465.8 276.4 425.5

IPC Exchan/(e 21.9 3.9 10.7

Medreco 16.0 16.7 16.9

Jordan 7.1 8.6 9.4

ZCC HoldsTrophy Banquet

The Zahrani Country Clubsponsored a trophy banqul't at ItSclubhouse on Oct. 21 for thepresentation of awards to \\ innersof its 1966 golf tournaments andmonthly medal competitions.

The trophies \\ ere awarded by:\Irs. E. Greem\ood.

Receiving monthly medals forthe 1966 golfing season were I.Ross, :\1rs. D. Schipper, J.Creecy, L. A. Ford, 1\1. Ruther­ford, R. Gruszechi, L. A. Rayburnand I!. J anotta.

The :\'orah Cole Trophy andthe j. Byron Bro\\ n Trophy \\ ere\\on by 1\1rs. D. Schipper and theP. E. Cole Trophy by I I. Janotta.

Messrs. Creecy, Schipper, Rossand K. I. Tronstad J r. won theMedreco Cup, the Pinckney Cup,the Charles 1\lartin Shield and theSybolt Shield, respectively.

Tapliner also intends to continueto li\'e in the capital of the north­ern Pronllcc in order to supen"ise

closely the education of hischildren \\ ho arc enlisted mgO\ crnorate schools in I Ar1ar.

Throughout his 17-year caren\\ ith Tapline, Khalaf was asso­ctated \\ith maintenance \\ork.

I lIS friends up and down thepipdine J lin in \\ ishing hm1 /(oodluck in hi~~ nc\\ tasks.

Mrs. J. H. RosquistTuraH

SpeTLIGHT

pipeLilu

PERISCOPEEditor F. C. Najia

Reporters:

Badanah Mike Nahhal

Beirut N. Honna

Ammon John Franjieh

New York R. M. Weeks

Qaisumah M. Nassir

Qaryatoin A. Kawar

Rafha M. A. Kublan

Sidon Kamal Abu-Zeid

The process of readjustingoneself to retirement life in SaudiArabia after 17 years of companyserVIce can be dIfficult and dis­illusIOning.

Ilowe\'er, former Painter KhalafSuleiman, \\ ho became in :\'0­\'ember the first SaudI rab em­ployee to retire from Tapline,does not think so.

Being a realist, he is sure (,fsuccessfull) achieving the transi­tion by resuming his fayoritc

pastimes-namely, farmin/( andsheep raising.

lIe points out \\ Ith pride thathe has already acquired 30 shcep.

A nati\c of Raan, a \'illa/(e southof llayel, the retired SaudI Arab

Retired Painter Khalaf SlIleiman receives his aWlllily card from BadanahStation SlIperintel/{lent 1/. T. Jmsen IIl1der the 1raiclUIII eyes of .Hain­lenance Foremall D. D. Cole. (Photo by Xasr).

Stranded t'ehicles on pipeline road can be sem in center foreground, Pipeline is seen at left,

Ail' view of the huge pool of black, oily tcater at the leal< site at Km, 517, bet/rem Rafha and Badanah,

Arid desert trallSformed illto a sea of raill tcaters at Km, 10, just outside Qaisumah. Note emergillg pipeline kilo­meter marker in background.

HEESERT

J.

I

DEL

The groulld floor of the company hospital (I'Id the Got'emment Relations office at Badanahtrere flooded teith several iI,ches of //I nd tcater during the mid-November deluge.

, I' ' the pipelille roadTVashed-out wlvert pIpes Ittel'ln,lf ,

Damaged section of the road at Kn

Road tcashouts alld c,dt'ert bridge near Badanah.

Aerial t'iNC of mill tt'aters streeping through Badanah (joregroulld).

For a change. and quite a change it tt:as, rain tcater replaces salld alollg the pipeline and the adjacent pipelineroad betn'een Rafha and Badanah dUl'lng Not'ember storms,

Page 7

Qaisumahl\londay IS a qUiet d'1\ In

QutsuI11ah no I11o\'il·. no plant.

no C.llltt'CIl ... ('tc. 'ro r ..... nlt"dy thistate of aflalrs, a shufHeboardtournament h~lS heen organlzl·dfor Qalsumah Taphners. Tourna­ment play IS cheduled for :\ lon­days and IS e"pected to e.tendmer a penod of eight to III w,·eks.

:\ hss lIl'rn,ine t'rSIS I::, re-ported in He,cellellt" condltH)11

follow mg her fi\·e-day stay m

hospital.

Congratulations to :\Ir. and:\Irs. :\Iuhammad :\Iansonr on thehirth of son :\Iansoor and to :\Ir.and :\Irs. Yahya n. .las lin on thebirth of daughter l\Ianal. '\Ir.Ja. >tm's plans call for celebrationof the e\ent \\lth a dmner part\prior to the' advent of the fastingmonth of Ramadan.

Laboratory TechniCian KhalilJamaleddine, :\latenals Spec13hstSahm al-Swalgh and SenIOrIiouseboy "Abou-Samra" are

wished good luck m their newurroundmgs at Badanah and

Turaif.

Albert Sahba and GeorgeKassab arrl\'ed hcre from Beirutm early :-;ovember for the annualaudit. On completIon of their workin Qalsumah, the two Beirut­based auditors dro\'e to Rafha.

Our hats are tipped for AssistantChief Engmeer F. :\. Khabbazwho arrived here m i\'ovember torelieve our \·acatiomng Station

upenntendent C. " Babb.

Plans are bemg readied for asoccer match during the 'ldholidays between the Q31sumahstation and Ilafr al-Batin teams.

The list of Qaisumah vacation­ers in November included Ab­dallah Khalaf, Hmood el-:\azha,

(Contilllled next page)

gineer-Electrical, resplcmely,reporting to the Senior Engi­neer-Techmcal Services.

The Semor Engmeer-Design,E. A. :\ajjar, ",II now report tothe ASSistant 'hlef Engineer.

C0I11munications, BeIrut was

transferred from the EngmeeringDepartment to the OperationsDepartment, reporting to theAssistant :\lanager, Operations.

m thebecame

line Sporting Club 111 late :\0­

\·cmber. A total of eighteen fansparticipated in the tournament.

CongratulatIons to Albert Ab­boud of P & T on his recentmarriage to the former l\ Iiss SamiaKanaan at the i\'otre Dame Churchin Harissa.

President \\'. R. Chandler and:\lanager of Operations J. J.Kelbcrer lea\'e Beirut Dec. 2 ona four-day \lsit to pump stationsalong the' L1I1e.

\',ce PreSident CowrnmentRelations R. 1\1. Ilenry and Dr.. . Chanma leave for R.yad Dec.I on a business \ iSlt whIch willextend until Dec. +. They wIII beJOIned 111 the Saudi capital byR. E. :\Iarsh.

:\Iaking busll1ess \ ISltS to pumpstations along the 'Line 111 '\;0­

vember were K. E. Parr, R. C.11111, R. E. \Iarsh, :\1. :\Iakdessl,J. E. Saba, G. "\. Ka~sab, AlbertSaliba, G. II. Canoles, F. '\.Khabbaz, F. Constantine, S.Baddour, \\'. E. Locher, \\'. \'.llall, J. J. Kelberer, F. \\'. ew,Hobert Kareh, J. "\assar, D.Falconer and F. Ashou.

J. \\'. Ilfeldi has been appoll1tedCoordinator-Go\·ernment Rela­tions, effectl\T '\0\. I. :\Ir.Breld,'s former duties as Ad­visor-:\1iddle East Affairs h'1\ ebeen consolidated Into hIS ne\\assIgnment.

The follc)\\ mg changeEngineenng Departmenteffectin.~ on :'\0\". 3'

R. C. IJIII was appointedConsulting Eng1l1eer. :\Ir. IlillwIII report to the Chief Engineer,C. II. Canoles, and will de\'ote histime to coordmatmg and sohingthe principal problems connectedwith diesel engines and gas tur­bines. lie \\111 be available forconsultation \\ ith any engineer

on any problem.

F. :-;. Khabbaz was appointed

Assistant Chief Engmeer \\lth allthe authontles and responsiblhtiesof that position, and he will report

to the Chief Engmeer.

G. i\'. Ziady was appointed

Senior Engineer - TechmcalServices with all the authoritiesand responsibilities of that posi­tion, reporting to the Assistant

Chief Engineer.

S. S. Freiha and . A. Kurbanwere appointed as Senior Engi­

neer-:\1echanical and enior En-

"Enfin Malherbc vint..... and

Shift Dispatcher Suheil Ilannahas announced his engagement topetite Denise Abi-Nader. AnApril wedding is planned.

]'vlabrollk.

George Hanna, Rene Haddadand Fawaz Najia finished first,

second and third in the tric-tractournament organized at the Tap-

Birthday celebrants in l\'o­\'ember were Gene Christman,Richard and Judith Moore, Mrs.R. L. Crosthwait, :\1rs. C. Scharn,Mrs. \\'. A. Kruyt and Aida l\'asr.

Celebrating their wedding anni­versary during the month wereMr. and Mrs. J. Koenreich.

Duplicate bridge winners on~o\·. 1 and lOw ere, respectively,Captains H. Janotta and II. D.Lambert and Dr. and :\1rs. S.Soulban. 1\lrs. A. l\1. Chnstmanand Mrs. J. II. RosqUlst finishedsecond on both plays.

Mrs. R. L. Crosthwait and :\Irs.E. A. Groh visited 13eirut duringthc month to attend to ailingdaughters Carolyn and Su anne.

Othayeb 1\1utlaq, ow ner ofTapllne's second hundredth Saudillome Ownership Plan house, isback from vacation.

Joe Saba of Industrial Rela­tions, Beirut, is off to head­quarters after ha\'ing relieved II.\\". Sutherland in Turaif.

During the trip to Beirut ofi\1r. and ;\Irs. :\1. A. Kearney 111

early NO\'ember, daughter Patriciaand visiting l\Iiss Danell Gateswere the house guests of the L. T.

Tartans.

Mahmoud el-Khalil Joined Tu­raif's nursing staff on temporaq

assignment from Badanah.

Turaif's golfing star AhmadSaid made a weekend \"isit to

Badanah :\0\'. 9-10.

The J. L. Koenreichs hosted adinner party at their home :\0\". 8in honor of newlyweds Dr. andMrs. i\1. A. Baroody, \'acationreturnees Capt. and :\1rs. :\.Oleynick and R. E. Marsh. TheKoenreichs entertained a groupof their neighbors at a similar

function a week later.

Thc J. Makkinjes served asuccessful dinner for their friends

on TOV . 17.

Beirut

E. C. Olsen returned here inearly 100'ember from a one-weekbusiness trip to Beirut.

Elie F. Copty and a group ofLebanese bachelors hosted a fare­well party in honor of Anas Sinno,who has left the field permanently.Mr. Sinno was presented with aMO\'ado \\I"istwatch by his friendsat the party. As one of our mostfaithful and better bridge players,:\1r. Sinno will certainly be missedby the Turaif Bridge Group.

. Mr. and Mrs. D. 1\1. DeJ\'ise

hosted a luncheon party Oct. 27

to celebrate the birthday of

daughter Jennifer.II. 1. Gelston spent the Oct.

26-27 weekend in Sakaka as the

guest of the Amir.

1\1r. and I\lrs. i\l. ~. l\'asrreturned from vacation 0\'. 1.While in Beirut, the l\'asrs at­tended the wedding of Dr. and:\lrs. M. Baroodv. During theirstopo\Oer in Amtnan enroute to

Turai£, the l\'asrs were entertainedby members of their family at aI~nchcon in the Officers Club.Cpon arrival in Turaif, they were

the dinner guests of the L. T.

:\ortons.Mrs. Salim :-;ajjar is off to

Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to visither ailing father.

A tea gathering was held at thehome of Dr. and Irs. S. Soulbanon r\ov. + to introduce the brideof Dr. 1\1. Baroody to the ladies

of the station.Mr. and Mrs. C. Scharn hosted

a dinncr party at their home Nov.2 in honor of M r. and 1 rs. I-I. L.Krapp. A few days latcr, theKrapps entertained their neigh­bors and Ross Hill of BeirutEngineering at a similar function.The same group were the dinnerguests of Mr. and Mrs. J. H.Rosquist on Kov. 9.

1\1rs. C. Scharn is back inTuraif from a short trip to Beirutto visit daughter Linda.

The II. L. Krapps were thedinner guests of the \;V. A.Kruyts on ·ov. 16.

Capt. and Mrs. N. Oleynickarrived here Nov. 8 to take up

temporary residence followinglong vacation which featured avisit to Spain and an extended

stay in the United States withdaughter Doris.

Turaif

PIPELINE PERISCOPEPage 6

The "flash" floods are over bllt not their afterll/ath.

This private tmc" .cas dragged along by tlte floods at KII/. 527.

I d I d J>arflla's sl,)' a (flt' Itollrs before ti,e stOIlIl.Dense COil S S 1r01l " )1

Badannh street following water recession.

Strallded Pay/oader lIear Badanalt.

COli/POllY "ell/de splasltes its .cay throllglt .cater,danaltts mal 11 gate.

Badallalt's flooded storeyard.

PIPELl:-;E PERISCOPE

HEAVY RAIN FLOODS SWEEP STATIONS

PIPEL!. E PERISCOPE

:\1. Ali, Tahnoon :\Iuhammad andC. S. Babh.

Back to the fold from annualleave are :\Iuhammad lIassan, 11.Ali, Abdullah I lamed el-Amer andIlablb Salloum.

:\Iember. of the Qalsumah com­nlunity JOin In extending theirSll1cere condolences and deepestsympathy to Shift Foreman Mu­hammad Ilassan on the recentdeath of his mother.

RafhaThe list of Rafha vacationers

includes Ibrahim Rashid, Saleh.""hmad, Abdul-Rahman Rashidand . Khalaf.

Emile Azar is here from Hada­nah on a relief assignment at theRafha hospital.

\Vedding felicitations are dueto Ilazem Ilazouri, of Rafha'snursing staff, who celebrated hismarriage Oct. 27 whill' on holidayIn Beirut.

Congratulations to :\Ir. and:\Irs. George :\Iourad on the birthof son Raymond.

'I\'enty-fi,e guests attended thesurpnse party given by HansSlotboom on );0\'. 9 in honor ofhis wife Yonnie's birthday.

Vacations are over for SaadAbbad, Abdallah Suleiman, SaadDaina, l\luhammad Deeb andSaad Thani.

SidonA heartfelt ma'a salamell is

wi hed Mooring Master and 1rs.E. E. Greenwood who left theterminal permanently In early);O\·ember. Prior to their de­parture from Sidon, Capt. and:\1rs. Greenwood were entertainedby Zahralll Country Club mem­bers at a farewell party and werepresented with a golden cigarettebox as a token souvenir. Theywere also entertained by Capt.and Irs. A. A. Brickhouse attheir hou e at a farewell party on1'\0\'. 7.

Leaving the terminal perma­nently during November also wereGeneral Mechanic S. Chehab andSeaman K. Baraclie.

Edward K. Van Horne Jr.,Mobil's Manager-Crude Shedul­ing Unit, visited Sidon Terminalon Nov. 10.

Pipeline Repairman E. Habiband General Craftsman A. Hablehare presently in Saucli Arabia ontemporary assignment with theRoad Improvement Program.They have been there on thisassignment since Sept. 12.

Communications Technician B.Ilanna r<'turned here );0\'. 22from a two-month relief as ign­ment In Turaif.

Assistant Superintendent-Shore F. :\1. );ajm left for Syria);ov. 21 to arrange for the repairof the pipeline leak in the Syriansection.

The :\.Ionthly CoIf :\.Iedal forNovember was won by D. A.Schipper with a net 60 for 18holes. There were 16 players. The"Saybolt Shield" was won by Mr.Schipper also on ","ov. 12, witha net 64.

Sidon Terminal employees con­vey their sincere condolences toTugboat Engineer-Di\'er l'\.Wehbeh and Shift Foreman F.Dandan on the recent deaths oftheir fathers.

Badanah\Velcome aboard to :\Irs. Louise

:\Ieyer and daughters Sandra,Biancha and Sheila who joinedour Supervising Technician,Diesel Cas Turbine C. R. :\Ieyerin late October. The A. Verhoe­\ ens and other families in thestation ha\"e entertained the new­comers.

Another aMall "'a saMail IS

times between Badanah and theleak site, landing on the road andtran porting the repair crew, tworubber liferafts and other lightequipment.

I t was not possible to moveheavy equipment along the roadsat the beginning. By Saturday,1\'0'" 18, however, by-passing thewashed out localities, one bull­dozer, one grader, one payloaderand five dump trucks arri\'ed atthe site. All of these, with theexception of the dump trucks,had been marooned at kilometer527, about 10 kilometers west ofthe leak site, because of the heavyrains.

The first on-the-site reportsabout the leak were received onFriday afternoon, Nov. 17.

The leak at kilometer 516.940,about 62 kilometers east of Bada­nah, was caused by a 36" longcrack in a circumferential fieldweld, 4-8 o'clock position, with amaximum width of about 1/8 ofan inch. The pipe at that localityis above ground. It was covered bya pool of oily water about onekilometer long and half a kilo­meter wide.l The maximum depth

extended to Dr. Raymond :\Iattar,who has JOIned our medical staffas a surgeon. Dr. \Iattar is a 1957graduate of CaIro Unl\·ersity. Ill'completeled his post graduatestudies In England where hebecame a Fellow of the RoyalCollege of • urgeons. Ill' sen'edin Egypt, Lebanon, Kuwait andEngland before joining Tapline.Dr. Mattar and his Irish wife arethe proud parents of three boys­George, Patrick and Sherbel.

Mr. and Mrs. E. A. Groh wererecently in Turaif, where Ir.Groh relieved Frank Stolarz.\Vhile in Turaif, Mrs. Groh madean emergency trip to Beirut to benear her daughter Virginia whowas admitted to hospital.

The J. L. Koenreichs wereentertained by the H. J ensens andD. Coles during their recent two­day visit to Badanah from Turaif.

Prior to his return to theAmerican Uni\'ersity Hospital InBeirut following a one-monthassignment at the Badanah Hos­pital, Dr. Jarir IIalazon was theguest of honor at a farewell partyho ted by doctors Amer RaY)'esand Ramez \Iasri.

Doctors Karam Karam andSamir Ballas, both of A.U.H.'sresident staff, completed their as­signment at the Badanah hospitalon [\0\'. 29.

(COli till lied from page 1)

of this pool was about 1 ~ meterwith a heavy layer of :oil on thesurface. Right under the crackin the pipe there was a bellholeabout 2~ meters deep, created bythe jet force of the leaking oil.

The first attempt to secure aband over the leak was made onthe afternoon of Friday, No\·. 17.These efforts were however inter­rupted due to darkness, and wereresumed the following morning.

As it was not possible toassemble and secure a band at theexact location of the leak in "iewof the deep hole directly under­neath the failure, a band wasa sembled on the pipe upstreamof the leak, then pulled into placeusing ropes attached to either sideof the band.

Tools and material were trans­ported from the edge of the poolof the leak using two six-manrubber life rafts.

Temporary repairs were com­pleted at about 1600 hours onSaturday, TOV • 18, or about 48hours after the first report wasreceived, and the pipeline wasreturned to normal operation.

In sealing off the break,

Page 8

\Irs. II. Ilargrove returnedhere 111 early );O\'ember afterspendIng the .ummer with hertwo sons and thur families in theUnited States.

Off to Beirut on annual leaveis Dr. );izar Turk.

M,sses Georgette Shammas andMountaha Dahabri ha\'e joinedour nursing staff. l\liss Shammasis a graduate of AVB's 1\'ursingSchool while Miss Dahabri is agraduate of the Augusta VictoriaHospital in Jerusalem.

Romance bloomed in Badanahwith the engagement of ourAssistant Chief 'u rse SonaArzoumanian to Qaisumah's Sta­tion Electric Instrument ManR. \V. Veldman. The coupleannounced their engagementwhile on holiday in Beirut.

Badanah's Club Steward Ibra­him Ahmad returned 1'\0\'. 11from annual leave in Somali landand a five-day visit to AddisAbaba.

Congratulations to R. Ashwi onhis recent marriage in 'Arcar.

enior X-Ray Technician JohnAbu-Khalil IS with us againfollowing a holiday in Spain, Italyand the UAR.

Our pumphouse staff organizeda successful picnic in early 1\'0­vember to a beautiful site 25kilometers west of the station.

Tapline's repairmen had gottenrid of the worst problem. Theystill had to weld the band in placeand dispose of the lost crude.

On Sunday, ]\'0\'. 19, with alarge part ot the oil drained by animpressive squadron of earthmo­ving equipment or pumped away,the rest blocked off by solid bar­riers of sand, the band was weldedto the pipe and the emergencyjob was over.

The repair crew has been com­mended for an excellent job acco­mplished under extremely hazar­dous conditions.

Pumping had been maintainedin the Rafha-Badanah section onthe 16th, 17th and 18th of themonth at only a slightly reducedrate in order to ensure maximumpossible Sidon receipts duringthe temporary repair period.

Loading operations at Sidoncontinued normally throughoutthis period.

Crude oil loss is estimated at130,000 barrels and throughputlosses at 240,000 barrels-a totalof 370,000 barrels or an averageof about 12,000 barrels per dayfor the month of Xovember.