COMMENTS ON THE GEOGRAPHIC ASPECTS OF (Sanitized) PROPOSED SAUDI ARABIA/SUBSAHARAN PIPELINE PROJECT.

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP85T00875R000600030009-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 10, 2001
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: April 16, 1974
• Content Type: MF

,BECoRETR C2ME~oST2oooo9_oGEOGRAPHIC ASPECTS O
PROROSU S'AUDI' ARABIA/SUBSAHARAN
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16 April 1974
MEMORANDUd FOR: National
n e gence cer for Energy
SUBJECT . Comments on the geographic as ects of
proposed au ra a u a haran
Pipeline Project.
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PHYSICAL SETTING
2. Except in northern Algeria, the African section
of the pipeline will pass through an area of extreme
dryness -- a true desert. Annual precipitation is
everywhere less than SO mm and is so variable that much
of the area may go years without a drop of rain. The
route was well chosen, however, with regard to terrain.
Elevations range from 200 to S00 meters and the land is
mostly flat to rolling. The route does not appear to
pass through any large areas of sand, except for a short
stretch in the Erg du Tenere in Niger.
POTENTIAL FOR DEVELOPMENT
3. Except in northern Algeria population is sparse
all along the pipeline route. Population density maps
generally show fewer than two people per square mile but
even these are clustered in a few scattered oases so that
most of the area is empty. The oases dwellers are
agriculturalists who live at a subsistence level. Nomadic
herding of sheep, goats and camels is confined to the
wetter highlands of the Air, Tibesti and Ahaggar Mountains.
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4. It is probable that the population is about as
dense as the water resources of the area will support.
Considerable quantities of water underlie vast stretches
of the Sahara, primarily in sandstone and limestone
aquifers, but at depths of 800 to 2000 (or more) feet.
Development of this water would be expensive and,
considering other factors such as transportation costs
and poor soils, could not support a commercial agricul-
tural economy that would be competitive with more
climatically favored regions to the north and south.
5. Transportation systems along the pipeline route
are virtually nonexistent. In the east the pipeline will
cross the Wadi Ilalfa-Abu Ilamid road and railroad, in
Sudan, and its western portion roughly parallels the road
which runs from Agadez, Niger, to Algiers, Algeria. The
only other transport routes are widely separated dirt
tracks.
6. At present there are few known exploitable
mineral resources along the pipeline route. Sudan has
some small deposits of iron and gold in the mountains
along the Red Sea but the rest of the northern half of
the country is underlain by deep strata of horizontal
sandstone and conglomerates which holds little promise
of mineralization. The Tibesti Mountains in Chad have
known deposits of tungsten and tin but they have not been
exploited. The Air Mountains in Niger have deposits of
uranium as well as tin and tungsten. Uranium is by far
the most important; it is being exploited by a French
company, and other uranium deposits in the same area are
being surveyed. The Air Mountain deposits are the only
ones in the study area that are being commercially
exploited. The Ahaggar Mountains in Algeria have known
deposits of uranium, diamonds and platinum but as yet
they have not proved to be worth mining. The only other
mining activity is salt which is mined for local use.
7. The energy crisis has spurred oil and gas
exploration in all the countries along the pipeline
route. However, to date, no known exploitable reserves
have been found. There is a deposit of low-grade oil
shale in the Tibesti Mountains but its discoverer, the
French firm Petropar, did not consider it commercially
exploitable. In 1963 there were rumors of an oil find
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near the town of Tokro, which is very
near io p po ne route, but nothing developed from the
find. Much of the area of northern Chad and Niger is
undor'..iin by marine limestones with favorable trap
structures, but the French have been exploring the area
for petroleum since the 1950's, so the possibility of a
large undiscovered field must be considered slight. The
Sudan sector holds little promise because its underlying
rocks arc primarily of continental origin.
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Chie , Middle East/Africa/
Western Hemisphere Branch
Geography Division, OBGI
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