Saudi oil proposal regarding Tapline
Syria-Saudi Arabia, Politics, 6/11/2001

Arab diplomatic sources have unveiled that Saudi Arabia proposed to Syria during the visit of the Saudi crown prince to Damascus Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz a project stated the possibility of pumping the Saudi oil through the (Tapline ) pipe which passes through Jordan, Syria and Lebanon after making some amendment on its track inside the Syrian territories and this is for postponing the work in pumping the Iraqi oil through several pipes between Karkouk oil fields and Banias port on the Syrian coast.

The sources told the Kuwaiti daily al-Rai al-Am that the Syrian leadership showed its reservations on the proposal, regarding its content, and explained its position which al-Riyadh understands, noting that this would not affect the excellent relations between the two states and the success of the visit.

The sources linked between the Saudi proposal and the extra one day stay of prince Bander Bin Sultan ( the Saudi ambassador in the US) in Damascus.

The sources added that Damascus which pursued a policy stated to improve its economic relations with all, especially with the neighboring countries has succeeded in improving her economic relations with all, especially with the neighboring states and also succeeded to explain its very position clearly, considering that re-qualifying the (Tapline) might be possible together with reopening the current Iraqi line, as well as the efforts made for erecting a second parallel pipeline that lead to raising the capacity of the lines from 750,000 barrels to 1.3 million barrels per day.

The sources noted that the talks which were attended by the Syrian minister of oil Maher Jamal dealt with the possibility of changing the track of the ( Tapline) which at the meantime passes through the Golan height at a length of 60 kilometers, to re-pump the oil which has been closed since 1967. The sources noted that Saudi Arabia showed understanding over the Syrian position, noting that the Syrian reservations had not any impact on the success of the visit and an evidence on that was the statement made by the Saudi crown prince Abdullah upon leaving Damascus.

The sources also indicated Damascus' assertion her adherence to the rapprochement cooperation currently made with Iraq, noting the message sent by the Syrian Prime minister Muhammad Mustafa Miro to Taha Yassin Ramadan saying that Syria, leadership, and peoples express satisfaction over the march of relations between the two countries.

Previous Stories:
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  Al-Assad, Saudi crown prince review region's conditions   (6/6/2001)
  Saudi crown prince in Damascus today   (6/5/2001)

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