I read an interesting article yesterday on the Advantages of transnational gas pipelines. Natural gas' share in the world energy market is slowly increasing and several developing countries are adopting natural gas as a fuel source. In many cases this means the construction of transnational pipelines thorugh which the gas can be supplied. As in many other global infrastructure projects, participants from a variety of national groups are often involved in the planning, construction and maintenance of these pipelines. However, while many global projects such as traditional power plants or bridges are constructed in a single country, these transnational pipelines are also global in terms of their geographic scope.

This then brings a host of geo-political issues and risks into play as countries must overcome differences in goals, cultures, trade policies etc in order for such a project to be successful. The article mentioned above highlights some of the success stories in this sector and in a very interesting read.

Even within India, transferring water across state borders has historically thrown up a host of political roadbloacks. Natural gas might not be as contentious a commodity as water, but if differences exist within nations, these types of differences can only be expected to be magnified across nations. However, if successfully implemented, I wonder if these transnational projects can contribute to geo-political stability and world peace. If India and Pakistan can learn to collaborate on a pipeline from Iran that provides Natural gas to both countries, and where both countries must cooperate in order to benefit, could relations possibly improve between them?

Posted by ashwin at April 24, 2006 11:49 PM