"It's Here!"

In the desert town of Touggourt, French officials and a sprinkling of carefully chosen Algerians stood in a railroad freight yard ringed by three fences of barbed wire and guarded by soldiers. "This achievement will astonish the world," said Max Lejeune, France's Minister of the Sahara. Engineers threw open the valves of a 6-in. "baby" pipeline, technicians stepped forward to fill souvenir bottles. "It's here! It's here!" shouted jubilant officials. The first oil from the Sahara was on its way to France.

The French had gone to considerable trouble and expense to make the celebration possible. Sahara oil has become one of France's main reasons for refusing to yield war-torn Algeria. Politicians have held it up as treasure trove that would restore France to riches and greatness. The Hassi Messaoud field alone has estimated reserves of at least 200 million metric tons--ten times France's present annual consumption. With two years to wait for a full-sized 24-in. pipeline from the Sahara to the Mediterranean coast, the French strung the baby pipeline across 93 miles of desert from Hassi Messaoud northward to Touggourt and widened 120 miles of narrow-gauge railway to transport the oil from Touggourt to the coast. One barrel of oil delivered to France in this cumbersome fashion costs an estimated ten times as much as a barrel imported some 6,000 miles from Texas--but the French, anxious to create a "psychological shock" at home, considered it cheap at the price.

The Algerian rebels were equally intent on proving that the Sahara's oil would never be secure so long as France refused Algeria independence. As the first shipment was being pumped aboard the silver tank cars at Touggourt, rebels blew up a section of the rail line to the coast, derailed 20 cars of a freight train in a psychological shock of their own. But the tracks were hastily repaired, the armed guard increased, and by week's end the first oil safely reached Philippeville for loading aboard a ship bound for France. In a few years, predicted Max Lejeune, France will be self-supporting in its oil needs, will rank as one of the world's largest oil powers.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.