Construction of the pipeline began in 1961. It was a large-scale project which was unique and complex but also very costly. The first tanker docked at the port of Trieste on the 13th of April 1967, and the first shipment of oil to the refinery in Ingolstadt took place in October 1967.
Also in 1967, the flow was reversed in the RDO crude oil pipeline (Rhein Donau Oelleitung) from Ingolstadt to Karlsruhe.
In 1970, the TAL system was connected to the Adria Wien Pipeline (AWP) and began supplying the Schwechat refinery near Vienna.
In 1972, TAL merged with RDO, and since then TAL has had three branches – TAL IG (from Trieste to Ingolstadt), TAL OR (from Ingostadt to Karlsruhe) and TAL NE (from Ingolstadt to Neustadt).
In 1995, the TAL system was connected to the IKL pipeline (by MERO), which supplies oil to refineries in the Czech Republic.
In 1997, TAL became the transporter after the Central European Pipeline (CEL) was stopped.
Historical points of interest:
• duration of pipeline construction: 1,000 days
• human resources involved in the design and implementation of the work: approximately 8,000 engineers, technicians and other workers from many countries
• construction of the pipeline used 40,000 individual pieces of pipe – the length of each piece is 12 meters and weight is 3 tons
