The placement of energy pipelines has always been shaped by political considerations, often at the expense of commercial ones. But the operation of existing lines is increasingly becoming politicized, too. And that’s going to hurt everyone.
There are many examples of pipeline routes being selected to serve geopolitical ends.
The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline from the Caspian Sea to an export terminal on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast was not the obvious commercial choice to get Azerbaijan’s crude to market, but it was chosen because it met the goals of avoiding Iran (even though it would have been cheaper to build there and gotten better access to Asian markets) and being independent of transit across Russia.