The construction of the Central European Pipeline (CEL) from Genoa to Ingolstadt started in June 1961, as a result of an Italian-German agreement promoted by Mattei and carried out by ENI to reduce the number of tankers on road and increase the economic efficiency of transport, excluding the rest of the oil industry. Its construction, characterized by high costs, delays, arguments and environmental issues, was completed in 1966 and caused supply delays to the Bavarian refineries that had already been built near Ingolstadt. In 1962 the SEPL (South European Pipeline) from Marseille to Karlsruhe came into service followed by the RDO (Rhein-Donau Oelleitung) pipeline from Karlsruhe to Ingolstadt and Neustadt in 1963. Owing to the steady increase of crude oil supply needs, the existing pipeline network soon reached its maximum capacity.
In March 1963 a group of leading oil companies (ENI, BP, ESSO, and SHELL), entrusted the Bechtel Corporation, an international engineering company, with the task of checking the feasibility of the project of the Venetian financier, Marco Barnabò, to build a pipeline connecting the Adriatic to Bavaria. On 21st November 1963 the first meeting of the TAL Consortium for the construction of the Transalpine Pipeline took place. Between 1964 and 1965, the three companies of the TAL Group (Società Italiana per l’Oleodotto Transalpino in Trieste, Transalpine Ölleitung in Österreich in Innsbruck and Deutsche Transalpine Oelleitung in Munich) were established for the operation of the pipeline. The aim was to create a third source of supply for southern Germany (alongside the facilities of Marseille and Genoa) and thereby ensure the continuity of energy delivery and the shortening of tanker journeys from Arabia or North Africa.
The choice of the port of Trieste as the starting point of the system was based on both its strategic location in relation to the target market and on the depth of the seabed – a fact considered crucial not only because oil tankers are amongst the ships with the greatest draught but also because these draughts were, at the time, progressively increasing. Moreover, such proposal was supported by the Italian Government in order to boost Trieste’s economy in the aftermath of World War II.
The construction of the pipeline began on 9th December 1964 and ended in June 1967, in one thousand days. The total cost of its implementation amounted to $ 192 million, 25% of which was borne by the same shareholders. A consortium of 83 banks was set up and the construction was considered one of the largest private investments of the period. On 13th April 1967, the first tanker, Daphnella, berthed in the Port of Trieste, and in October of the same year the first batch of oil reached Ingolstadt in Bavaria.
In 1970 the Adria Wien Pipeline (AWP) was linked to the TAL system and started to supply the refinery in Schwechat near Vienna. In 1972 the Rhein Donau Oelleitung (RDO) was acquired for supplying refineries in Karlsruhe and Neustadt. The TAL system was thus extended through the addition of two further branches, TAL-OR and TAL-NE (26’’).
In 1995 the TAL system was linked to the MERO pipeline in order to supply energy to the Czech Republic. In 1997 the TAL Group took over the crude oil supply role of the Central European Pipeline (CEL) that was converted to gas transport. The construction of a pipeline that crosses three countries was an outstanding venture both in terms of engineering work and evidence of international collaboration.
It is due to the foresight of the visionary and resolute founders of the pipeline, coupled with the ability of the engineers and contractors who built the infrastructure in just 1,000 days, that today, over 50 years later, we are able to enjoy this strategic, pioneering, cutting edge and environmentally friendly means of transport able to unite the economies of Friuli Venezia Giulia, Austria and Bavaria.
