The Global Game Of Oil Pipelines

Oil has long been and will continue to be at the centre of the global economy. This book explores the oil trade, energy (geo)politics, and new trends in regionalising or globalising the oil industry in the new era of international relations and economic competition. Energy pipelines carrying oil and gas from the well-head to the market, generally run through two or more states; and often from one continent to the other. This book maps the oil flowing through international and intercontinental pipelines and unravels the political, commercial and technological considerations behind the mapping of oil routes and forging of trade ties between nation-states. Through case studies from the major oil-exporting regions like Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, the USA, Canada and Russia, it analyses the changing trends in their policies around oil trade, bilateral relations, energy, and security. It also considers the environmental protests around the continued dependency on oil, the teapot refineries under the Islamic State, investments, oil lobbies and insurrections to understand the broad picture of shifting regional and geopolitical realities and the scramble for vital resources. This comprehensive book will be of interest to students of the geopolitics of energy, international relations, security and strategic studies, energy studies as well as the media and with policymakers.

Gas pipelines constitute an important, yet unexplored, aspect of strategic geography. As one of the fastest growing economies in the world, India’s need for energy is paramount. Though surrounded by gas-rich regions – Myanmar and Bangladesh to the east, the Gulf to the west and Central Asia to the north – India does not have a single gas pipeline coming in, going out or traversing through its territory to date. This book highlights the global competition over gas pipelines and its implications for India’s energy security in a comprehensive manner. The author leads us through a labyrinthine world comprising numerous actors – the states, energy firms, scientists, engineers, investors and bankers – engaged in competition over these pipelines leading to a continuous game of checkmating rivals, instigating conflicts, causing damage and destruction and threatening military action to persuade or dissuade states from joining specific projects. Pulsating, rigorous, grounded in hard facts and solid research, this book will be indispensable for scholars and researchers of international relations, strategic affairs, defence studies and politics, as well as think tanks, government agencies and the informed general reader.

"In its heyday, the oil sands represented an industrial triumph and the culmination of a century of innovation, experiment, engineering, policy, and finance. Fort McMurray was a boomtown, the centre of a new gold rush, and the oil sands were reshaping the global energy, political, and financial landscapes. The future seemed limitless for the city and those who drew their wealth from the bitumen-rich wilderness. But in 2008, a new narrative for the oil sands emerged. As financial markets collapsed and the scientific reality of the Patch's effect on the environment became clear, the region turned into a boogeyman and a lightning rod for the global movement combatting climate change. Suddenly, the streets of Fort McMurray were the front line of a high-stakes collision between two conflicting worldviews--one of industrial triumph and another of environmental stewardship--each backed by major players on the world stage. The Patch is the seminal account of this ongoing conflict, showing just how far the oil sands reaches into all of our lives. From Fort Mac to the Bakken shale country of North Dakota, from Houston to London, from Saudi Arabia to the shores of Brazil, the whole world is connected in this enterprise. And it requires us to ask the question: In order to both fuel the world and to save it, what do we do about the Patch?"--

Property will cost us the earth The science on climate change has been clear for a very long time now. Yet despite decades of appeals, mass street protests, petition campaigns, and peaceful demonstrations, we are still facing a booming fossil fuel industry, rising seas, rising emission levels, and a rising temperature. With the stakes so high, why haven't we moved beyond peaceful protest? In this lyrical manifesto, noted climate scholar (and saboteur of SUV tires and coal mines) Andreas Malm makes an impassioned call for the climate movement to escalate its tactics in the face of ecological collapse. We need, he argues, to force fossil fuel extraction to stop--with our actions, with our bodies, and by defusing and destroying its tools. We need, in short, to start blowing up some oil pipelines. Offering a counter-history of how mass popular change has occurred, from the democratic revolutions overthrowing dictators to the movement against apartheid and for women's suffrage, Malm argues that the strategic acceptance of property destruction and violence has been the only route for revolutionary change. In a braided narrative that moves from the forests of Germany and the streets of London to the deserts of Iraq, Malm offers us an incisive discussion of the politics and ethics of pacifism and violence, democracy and social change, strategy and tactics, and a movement compelled by both the heart and the mind. Here is how we fight in a world on fire.

Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- List of figures -- Abbreviations -- Introduction -- Part 1 Resource and routes -- 1 Natural gas: geology, geography and markets -- 2 Gas pipeline: commodity, container and carrier -- Part II The gas troika -- 3 Iran: gas pipelines under/after sanctions -- 4 Russia: an energy superpower? -- 5 Turkmenistan: pawn and player in the game of chess -- Part III The home truths -- 6 India: not a single transnational pipeline yet -- Conclusions: legacy, leads and lessons -- Bibliography -- Index

"In 1947, Daniel Dennett, America's sole master spy in the Middle East, was dispatched to Saudi Arabia to study the route of the proposed Trans-Arabian Pipeline. It would be his last assignment. A plane carrying him to Ethiopia went down, killing everyone on board. Today, Dennett is recognized by the CIA as a "Fallen Star" and an important figure in US intelligence history. Yet the true cause of his death remains clouded in secrecy. In The Crash of Flight 3804, investigative journalist Charlotte Dennett digs into her father's postwar counterintelligence work, which pitted him against America's wartime allies--the British, French, and Russians--in a covert battle for geopolitical and economic influence in the Middle East. Through stories and maps, she reveals how feverish competition among superpower intelligence networks, military, and Big Oil interests have fueled indiscriminate attacks and targeted killings that continue to this day--from Jamal Khashoggi's murder to drone strikes. The book delivers an irrefutable indictment of these devastating forces and how the brutal violence they incite has shaped the Middle East and birthed an era of endless wars"--

Fossil fuels are a valuable commodity at the forefront of national and international politics. Pipelines can create jobs and economic growth, not to mention delivering a commodity to people who need it. What happens when there is conflict about the land through which a pipeline travels? Such conflicts can lead to protests, stoppages, and even war. Readers of this comprehensive volume, which explores the topic from a multitude of angles, will learn how a simple pipeline can have enormous geopolitical ramifications.