Asia Pacific and Europe will Witness the Largest Addition in Oil and Gas Pipelines during 2012–2020

Wednesday 7 March 2012, Amsterdam

“Strategic Pipelines Set to Change Geopolitical and Demand Supply Paradigm in the Global Oil and Gas Industry” is the latest report from industry analysis specialists, providing a review of the ten key planned oil and gas pipelines expected to have a significant influence on supply and demand and on geopolitical paradigms in the global oil and gas industry. This is a global report covering every relevant region, providing pipeline project information and a detailed analysis of the pipeline projects’ rationale and importance. It also details information about any geo-political influence the pipeline can exert on the countries affected by the pipeline. The report also provides an overview of global oil and gas pipelines and their importance in the international oil and gas trade.


Oil and Gas Pipelines: From Means of Transport to Key Strategy Elements

With global dependency on energy increasing, the role of oil and gas pipelines is expanding from its traditional role of transporting energy resources. Currently oil and gas pipelines are tools for advancing political ambitions. Planned pipeline projects such as, Russia’s pipeline to supplying oil and gas Eastwards are aimed at diversifying the exports markets, Europe’s Nabucco and Islamic pipeline projects are aimed at diluting Russia’s hold on Europe’s natural gas market, reflect the increasing role pipeline playing in the current political scenarios.


Asia Pacific and Europe will Witness the Largest Addition in Oil and Gas Pipelines during 2012–2020

Over the course of the 2012-2020 period, a total of 157 planned oil and gas pipelines are expected to become operational. Gas pipelines will account for the majority of new installations during this period, totaling about 116. Of the rest, 24 will be oil pipelines and 17 will be petroleum product pipelines.

Regionally, Asia and Europe have a high number of pipelines projects that are expected to be operational in the 2012-2020 period. In terms of length, for the 2012-2020 period, a total of 112,073.9km length of pipelines are expected to be operational. Amongst these, Asia will have the largest length with 38,330.2km.

Europe will follow with 27,426.8km, but this will largely be driven by Russia, which will account for half of the total pipeline length planned for this period.

Key Strategic Pipeline Projects are Expected to Influence the Geopolitics or Demand-Supply Scenario of the Regional Oil and Gas Industry

The key strategic pipelines projects discussed in the report are expected to influence the geopolitical or demand-supply scenario of the region. For example, pipelines such as the Keystone XL pipeline project will allow the transport of synthetic crude from Canada’s oil sands to markets in US Gulf Coast. Similarly, the TAPI pipeline project aims to connect Turkmenistan, a gas surplus country, to India, a heavy gas consuming and importing market. Significant Russian gas supplies to China are planned through the Altai pipeline project. Projects such as South Stream pipeline, Nabucco pipeline, and Islamic pipeline affect the geopolitical scenario in the region by directly impacting Russia’s dominance as a gas supplier to Europe. All these pipelines, in some way or another, have a geopolitical effect on demand-supply paradigms of regional oil and gas industries.