In this era of divisions and dissensions, black gold — as often oil is referred to — is also rather unwittingly emerging as the crude binding force, between the otherwise sparring nations and their conflicting national objectives. One may not like it, yet the dependence, of the consumers on the producers and indeed vice versa, makes it somewhat paradoxical, even for the otherwise dictating powers to accommodate the views and aspirations of the other side too. Steam rolling others does not abode well for any one — neither the dominant forces nor the smaller ones on the global chess board, as it does not necessarily achieve the national objectives of either.

In his State of the Union speech in January this year, President George W. Bush vowed that the United States should cut its oil imports from the Middle East by 75 percent by 2025. House political advisors reportedly added the remarks hours before the president delivered them before the Congress. Major oil producers were taken aback by the pronouncements of the leader of the “free world economy.” It rankled many here, one could safely say.

However, even the most powerful man on the earth, as the US president is often termed as, has to chew his words — in literal sense.

Saudi Arabia then detailed plans to boost its production capacity to 12.5 million bpd by 2009 from the current 11 million bpd and build new refineries, while the US pledged to find ways to boost US refining capacity too, so as to remove the bottlenecks the industry was facing today.

Thus despite the wish, and an earnest desire perhaps, the solo flight did not appear appropriate even to the sole, dominating super power of the globe, it seemed.

Other nations in the world and in the Near East are also trying to organize a web, a haze, a network of pipelines that would ultimately make unilateral decisions by powers to be almost impossible. The Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline is one such example. Despite the fact that apprehensions about the project exists and exists in a big way, yet once completed, this could be a perfect example of win-win situation for all the participants, every one, including President Vladimir Putin concedes.

Now there are discussions about extending the gas form this pipeline to China as well, apparently using the facilities being built at the new Gawadar port in Pakistan. Even Russia is also contemplating moves to somehow be a part of this project. Russia’s Gazprom is ready to participate in plans to build the natural gas pipeline from Iran to India via Pakistan, President Vladimir Putin said on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit. “We think this is completely realizable ... Iran wants it, Pakistan wants it, and India wants it. Gazprom (the Russian giant) is ready to help,” Putin told reporters after a meeting of the Shanghai Organization where he met Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan.

Islamabad has welcomed the idea of Gazprom getting involved in the project and keeping in view the traditional Indo-Russian amity, this development could also act as an additional safety valve for New Delhi.

Besides Moscow is also working on a project to create a joint venture with Tehran on exploiting natural gas reserves in Russia and Iran. “We’re talking about getting a Russian deposit and an Iranian deposit and creating a joint venture.” Putin was quoted as saying during the Shanghai summit.

And as the date for the official inauguration of 1760 Km long Baku — Tiblisi — Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline draws to a close, Kazakhstan has also finally been persuaded to join the pipeline. Although the shipment of Kazakh oil through the pipeline was not expected in large volumes until its $29 billion Kashaghan oil field starts pumping in 2008, the deal itself is of great importance, adding to the sense of security and stability in the otherwise energy hungry, scared and sensitive western markets.

And how much importance the BTC pipeline is being accorded, could be gauged from the fact that breaking all ideological and political boundaries, presidents of 15 countries including President Bush, President Putin, President Aliyev of Azerbaijan and President Mikhail Saakashvilli of Georgia, prime ministers of 30 countries including the British Premier Tony Blair besides the energy and foreign ministers from 50 countries are expected to grace the high profile opening ceremony of the pipeline in the Ceyhan town of southern Turkish province of Adana on July 13.

The world is indeed interdependent and energy is one of the most important manifestations of this fact.