Understanding the global concerns relating to oil and gas pipelines

Energy Infrastructure

In this climate change and energy transition era, there have been various issues arising with respect to the establishment and investment of some energy infrastructure, both at the national and regional level.

The energy transition is characterised by the need to shift from fossil fuels to renewables. Consequently, this has significantly contributed to the ongoing shift of finances and investments to low carbon energy resources and infrastructure developments.

Whereas the energy transition presents various opportunities, including tackling climate change, if it is not well managed, the same transition is capable of escalating other global challenges, including energy poverty.

There are various issues to be addressed, however, this short article will focus on the challenges of establishing regional energy infrastructure with a focus on oil and gas pipelines.

Critical energy infrastructure includes utilities associated with energy transport and management, such as electricity generation and transmission; oil and gas production and pipeline systems; liquefied natural gas facilities; coal transport trains; management technology, such as advanced electricity metering and distribution systems and modern power plant control systems and smart building technologies.

Why regional energy infrastructure?

Energy resources are unequally distributed across the globe and this has necessitated the transnational character in the extraction and utilisation of these resources.

This makes the establishment and development of polycentric regional energy infrastructure crucial, as it enables both the producing and consuming countries to benefit from the various energy resources.

Although fundamental for tackling the challenge of energy access, the establishment and development of energy infrastructure generally raises a lot of concerns, both nationally and internationally, for instance where issues arise concerning consumer privacy; discontent by local people leading to protests over the combined environmental and economic harm caused by energy.

Regional challenges arise where there are complex issues regarding legal framework and financial contribution of partner states.

Moreover, political challenges, including geopolitics, lack of political will and insecurity are also a hindrance to the realisation of regional energy projects, including regional energy infrastructure.

A focus on oil and gas pipelines

Oil and gas pipelines are considered to have the highest capacity and to be the safest and least environmentally disruptive means for oil or gas transmission. These have been established in different regions. For instance, the US is home to the greatest number of oil and gas pipelines in the World. In Europe, over 27 oil and gas pipelines exist.

The European region has also recently invested in new pipelines, including the Baltic Pipe, which is a natural gas pipeline between Europipe II and Poland.

The Baltic Pipe is strategically established to ensure transportation of natural gas from the North Sea to Poland via Denmark at up to 10 billion cubic metres per year.

The development of oil and gas pipelines historically dates as far back as the 1850s, when the first commercial oil well was drilled in Pennsylvania in 1859, necessitating the construction of the first cross-country pipeline in 1879.

To date, oil and gas pipelines are considered to be an important form of energy infrastructure, considering the vast amount of oil and gas consumed around the world.

Pipelines transport oil, natural gas and petroleum products from producing fields and refineries to consumers, sometimes crossing other countries on a transit basis.

Moreover, in instances where the discoveries are offshore, pipelines are used to gather the resources and bring them onshore.

Concerns regarding oil and gas pipelines

The extraction of oil and gas, together with the development of pipelines, attracts several issues among which we may include conflict with the indigenous people’s territories and environmental damages.

Pipelines can also lead to hazardous consequences and large business losses if not well maintained through repairs, rehabilitations, or replacements.

Moreover, technical difficulties, financial constraints, bureaucratic inefficiency and political challenges have also been cited as major constraints to the development of these pipelines in different regions.

There are other various issues associated with oil and gas pipelines, such as those relating to failures of the pipelines due to corrosion defects, which are considered a major concern in pipeline integrity.

This notwithstanding, oil and gas pipelines are generally commended for their remarkable efficiency and low transportation cost and reduced damage to the environment, considering the kind of technology employed.

Why protests against oil and gas pipeline establishments?

Oil and gas pipelines have been developed in different parts of Africa to enhance the utilisation of fossil fuels.

Looking at West Africa, under the auspices of ECOWAS, the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP) was established with the main purpose of constructing a 600km pipeline to transport natural gas from Nigeria to Benin, Togo and Ghana, the four main countries in the project. In East Africa, there is the East African Crude Oil Pipeline Project (EACOP).

EACOP is anticipated to transport oil produced from Uganda’s Lake Albert oilfields to the port of Tanga in Tanzania. EACOP runs 1,443km from Kabaale, Hoima district in Uganda to the Chongoleani Peninsula near Tanga Port in Tanzania.

A total of 80% of the pipeline is in Tanzania. Just like other pipelines across the globe, EACOP would present an opportunity to utilise the resources in East Africa.

The pipeline is buried thermally insulated 24″ pipeline along with six pumping stations (two in Uganda and four in Tanzania) ending at Tanga with a Terminal and Jetty. Here crude oil will be loaded onto tankers.

Whereas EACOP presents various opportunities in the energy sector, it has also attracted numerous protests regarding the potential environmental and social impacts associated with the development of this project.

As illustrated earlier, energy projects globally pose environmental and social issues.

Concluding remarks and key recommendations

Important to note is that protests against oil and gas pipelines have been experienced in the different parts of the globe. Besides the protests against EACOP in East Africa, in the US, there were massive protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline.

These protests erupted in 2016, in opposition to the construction of Energy Transfer Partners’ Dakota Access Pipeline in the northern US.

The pipeline runs from the Bakken oil fields in western North Dakota to southern Illinois, crossing beneath the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, as well as under part of Lake Oahe, near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation.

Environmental and social protection are at the centre of such protests targeting oil and gas pipelines. If these pipelines are not well managed, they can pose serious threats to the water bodies, biodiversity, environment and cultural sites of historic importance.

Environmental and climate change concerns can have an impact on the flow of finances for these kind oil and gas pipeline projects.

However, in the past, these have not been successful, especially given the country’s urgent need to address energy security. There is indeed a dilemma of addressing energy security and at the same time respect the United Nations Sustainable Development (UN SDG) 13 on climate action.

However, the solution would not be in entirely stopping the establishment of key energy infrastructure, such as EACOP; but rather, on ensuring that throughout the project life-cycle, there are clear guidelines to ensure adherence to strategies aimed at protecting the environment and local communities.