ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the case of the trans-European pipeline plan and questions why the major oil companies pursued a trans-European pipeline, how the planning process evolved and why it failed in the end. The case of the trans-European pipeline was situated in the middle of a complex web of geopolitical tensions, multinational business concerns and national interests. The French position was highly relevant to the trans-European consortium because the proposed Middle East agreement functioned as a model for the legal team of the consortium. The consortium's second board meeting in The Hague on 14 March 1957 agreed that the revised Bechtel report was suggesting that the trans-European pipeline in a slimmed down form still made economic and technical sense. On 31 January 1957, SAPPEUR's shareholder meeting in The Hague convened with experts from all of the participating oil companies and Bechtel.
