Gas pipelines are changing the politics of many areas. Crisscrossing international borders and hostile topography, gas pipelines are seeking to alter the political landscape of regions. Oil companies are seeking energy resources in distant lands. The pull for new energy resources is so powerful that the world has in real sense become smaller and has been transformed into one village. A new reality is dawning and in the process, major contentious issues — often causes of wars between states and societies — have been pushed aside to the dustbin of history. A new equation is thus emerging, in many areas of world, where each one has to depend on others. There is no escape from this fact and the balance of power is undergoing an unannounced change — perhaps for ever. The relationship is essentially symbiotic in nature.
Egypt and Israel recently signed a deal for Cairo to supply natural gas to Tel Aviv.
In the same vein, archrivals Pakistan and India — despite US pressure to abandon the project — are moving ahead with a 2600 km Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline to bring Iranian gas to India via Pakistan.
In fact there are discussions now to extend the pipeline to China - despite the fact that Beijing and Delhi have divergent views over the role each has to play on the global and the regional arena.
Pakistan is also reportedly in talks with Turkmenistan and Qatar to bring in gas through pipelines, with a possible extension to India, and may be even to China later.
Hardly a few weeks back, a 42 inches wide, 1,090 miles gas pipeline connecting Baku to the Turkish port of Ceyhan via Tbilisi in Georgia was inaugurated with much fanfare and was described as the dawn of new ear of prosperity and ‘peace’ in the region.
Much hue and cry has been raised in the US about the Chinese interest in the energy firm Unocal.
The Sinopec Group of China has also bought a 40 percent stake in oil sands project in Canada. The Chinese National Petroleum Company (CNPC) is moving ahead in Venezuela and Brazil. The Chinese are aggressively pursuing energy interests in Africa and the Middle East.
Pakistani energy companies have acquired interests in Africa and elsewhere. There is an underlying interest expressed by Pakistan in getting involved in the Iraqi oil industry
Indian Oil Company is currently involved in Sudan, once the Americans and then the Europeans decided to pull out of Khartoum on political grounds. They may be repenting that decision now, for the output from Sudan oil wells is already touching half a million barrels a day and by this time next year - 2006 - this may even touch a million barrels a day. Indians are also striving to get into Iraq and the African continent in a big way.
This brings into focus the point that the global energy needs could only be met through more coordination and integration at the global level. Even the OECD energy watch dog, the International Energy Agency is admitting the fact that the world needs more oil, but also stressed that governments in consuming countries also need to streamline energy investment regulations and boost energy efficiency. A global effort is indeed required.