What's it all about Alfie?
So after spending the last week playing connect the dots, I've come to the conclusion that the Georgia invasion was the final act in a Russian ploy to consolidate their hold on the natural gas market to Europe.
The Nabucco Pipeline which was scheduled to be built in approx. 2010 was to deliver natural gas from Turkmanistan through the proposed Trans Caspian gas pipeline to the Baku Tablisi Erzurum natural gas pipeline to the proposed Nabucco line which was to deliver gas to Austria and beyond thereby bypassing Russian gas suppliers. (see wikipedia article here).
Russia, through its invasion last week put to rest that grand plan. At least for the immediate future there apparently will be no Nabucco pipeline nor because of Russian actions in contracting for Turk gas ( here ) will there even be a source of gas to fill the pipe.
A youtube video ( here ) sums it up nicely.
With the Nabucco plans off the table, the only sources for gas to Europe are Russia and Iran.
Another interesting recent move by Russia (Gazprom) was to invest in the Iran Armenia natural gas pipeline( here ) and then reduce its diameter so that it could not be used for a transit line beyond Armenia.
So there you have it.
Now that I've bored you to death with stories of one pipeline after another, here's a pipeline
( here )I'm sure you all will enjoy.
So what about bombing Iran? I don't think so. It likely is all bluster and no action, to what end I have no idea......yet.
New Iran - Turkey gas pipeline in the works.......
"05-07-08 Iran says the construction of a EUR 600-mm pipeline to transfer the country's natural gas to Turkey and Europe will begin soon.
"A 56-inch-diameter pipeline will be extended to Iran's border point of Bazargan to boost gas exports to Turkey and Europe," said Iranian Deputy Minister Seyyed Reza Kasaeizadeh. He expressed hope that the project would soon be put out to tender, saying that the 420-km pipeline is of paramount importance for Iran.
Iranian Oil Minister Gholam-Hossein Nozari announced that Ankara and Tehran are negotiating on an increase in natural gas exports to Turkey and on supplying the country with more gas during the winter.
"During the Jeddah OPEC summit, the two countries discussed terms for a joint venture to lay a natural gas pipeline extending from the South Pars gas field to the Bazargan border," Nozari said.
Iran possesses the world's second-largest gas reserves after Russia. Many energy analysts and officials believe Iran can be a reliable energy supplier to Europe.
Turkey has been a consumer of Iranian gas since 2001. "
source ( Alexanders Gas and Oil )
posted by Paul @ 9:12 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
It seems that oil pipelines have replaced the tankers as the means of distribution.
It is also apparent that the producer nations such as Iran, Russia and Venezuela are getting rid of US and UK oil companies who were effectively trading as middlemen, with no reserves of their own, just hugely expensive, outdated military forces....
It may be some time however, before Saudi-Arabia legalises pot, and organises rock concerts.
Pipelines are everywhere. If you could look at the earth with all the pipelines sticking out and painted blue, it would look like mama's got a bad case of varicose veins!
Tankers are still a big part though. Sempra Energy, which supplies the San Diego area with power just recently opened a new natural gas port in Ensenada Mexico, just south of the border. It ships in from Indonesia.
They want to build a big new transmission line that would hookup to a generating station just below the border as well. Seems that Mexico's environmental restrictions are fewer than here.
Been a lot of public hearings on the matter and a very large opposition because of right of way intrusions, viability and cost. The little people including myself have been arguing for local solar power instead........we do have a little bit of sun here in San Diego. Seems like such a waste to ignore it.
The powers that be just don't see the risk in basing the source of power for an entire region on imported natural gas purchased from unstable dictatorships using tankers that require petrol and are great targets for surface to surface missles.
We get tankers here in the UK, but increasingly both oil and gas are coming "via the pipes".
Of course, for the US, due to both its` geographical and political location, it`s almost impossible to get adequate supplies without tankering.
The idiocy of importing gas from indonesia is like Wales importing tankered gas from the middle east, which we do! (Courtesy of Chevron.)
It is more politics than pragmatics, that`s for sure.
Renewable energies, such as solar and wind are starting to gain acceptance here.
But the corporates, and the politicians in their pay, are calling for more use of fossils and of course, the most dangerous fossil fuel of all, nuclear power.....
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