More than four decades ago the CIA warned in a memorandum to then President Ronald Reagan that "the 5,633-km gas pipeline from Siberia to Germany is a direct threat to the future of Western Europe, it said, creating 'serious repercussions' from a dangerous reliance on Russian fuel."
A few months ago, around the time that the final pipeline segments were put down into the Baltic to complete construction of the 1200-km Nord Stream 2, we wrote on these pages that Nord Stream 2 was experiencing a painful and difficult birth. Fast forward to today and the threatening massive ground war in the Ukraine and possibly other countries in Europe since 1945, we've entered a diffe
Every few years one sees the name and thought of Carl von Clausewitz, the famous Prussian strategist, dug out of the historical archives when geopolitical tensions and the threat of war are cresting.
“Higher gas prices in Europe are a consequence of a deficit of energy and not vice versa and that’s why we should not deal in blame shifting, this is what our partners are trying to do." Vladimir Putin, Russian Energy Week, 13 - 15 October 2021.
Libya is one of OPEC members and possesses 7 Oil Exporting Ports along the 2,000 km on the southern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, giving it the advantage of being the most attractive customer to the European Refineries, besides its crude high API viscosity. In the last decade, Libya suffered from political conflict and security instability.
When Colonial Pipeline Co. was breached on April 29, the ramifications were wide-spread, causing fuel shortages across the East Coast and raising alarm bells for cybersecurity professionals.
The problem is not opposing pipelines and oil production, or believing the 2020 election was somehow stolen from Trump, though I, and I suspect many of you, find both positions to be equivalently wrong-headed. The problem is people who have concluded that their cause is so righteous they are justified in scaring and even hurting other people to get their way.
The tragic incident in Mexico makes it clear that pipeline tapping is becoming an increasing problem. A problem that not only costs human lives and causes enormous material damage, but also a problem that undermines public confidence in the pipeline transport systems and their operators.
The recent accident in Mexico is a source of great disappointment and sadness among all of us in the international pipeline community. The illegal tapping problem has been growing uncontrollably for the last 15 years throughout the world. Some countries recognize this, whereas others do not.
