| Country: | ISR |
| Petroleum Road | |
| Alternate Name: | Tapline Road |
| Image Notes: | The Petroleum Road |
| Length Km: | 45 |
| Direction A: | South |
| Terminus A: | Orha Junction |
| Direction B: | North |
| Terminus B: | Ghajar |
The Petroleum Road or Tapline Road (Hebrew: כביש הנפט, Kvish HaNeft) is a 47km (29miles) long, privately owned north-south asphalt road in the Golan Heights. The name Petroleum Road derives from the now defunct oil pipeline of the Trans-Arabian Pipeline Company, which the road runs adjacent to. It begins near Mount Peres on the east edge of the central Golan and ends in the northern Golan near the Israeli-occupied Golan-Lebanese frontier, nearby Ghajar.
Most of it is marked on maps as inaccessible because of poor road quality.
Since the road diagonally bisects the entire length of the northern portion of the Golan Heights, it was the site of many battles fought along its axis during the Yom Kippur War in 1973.
See main article: Trans-Arabian Pipeline. The Trans-Arabian Pipeline was established as part of a joint initiative of several American companies, and it stretches 1,214 km from Qaisumah in Saudi Arabia to the port of Sidon in Lebanon. During the Six-Day War, Israel took control of a 47 km section of the pipeline but permitted its operation to continue. However, due to various problems, the pipeline fell out of use.
In May 1969, PFLP terrorists from Lebanon infiltrated and blew up the pipeline in the area near Ghajar. 8,000 tons of oil spilled into Nahal Si'on and from there flowed through the Banias River and the Jordan River to the Kinneret.[1] [2] Following this, the dirt road along the pipeline was paved and fenced. In September 1969, a Mekorot tractor hit a pipeline near Kibbutz Shamir.[3]
The Golan Heights section stopped transporting petroleum in 1976. Today, the pipeline is used to transport water from various boreholes in the Golan.
The length of the road accompanying the Golan Heights pipeline is 45km (28miles). The southernmost were destroyed when Israel constructed its forward line of defensive fortifications opposite the ceasefire line between Israel and Syria after the Six-Day War. In addition, the northernmost is generally not considered part of the Petroleum Road but is rather part of Route 999.
Since the Petroleum Road is private, and not maintained by the Israeli transport authority, it has not been assigned a number.
In 2015, road renovation works[4] were completed by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. The section of the road between the Revaya junction and the Banias junction was renovated and was safe for all types of vehicles. As part of the works, four viewing points were erected along the section. Fences were also removed on part of the route to open an ecological corridor along the Golan.