Analysis: Oil and Gas Pipeline Watch

Iraq, Syria pledge timeline on pipeline restart

Iraq's visiting delegation to Damascus included the pipeline, bombed in the 2003 invasion, in its economic and security talks.

The delegation was led by Barham Saleh, the deputy prime minister, and included ministers of interior and trade, Iraq's Alsumaria TV reports.

The pipeline linking Kirkuk, Iraq, to Banias, Syria, is more than 50 years old and was used by Saddam Hussein as a way to evade U.N. sanctions restricting oil exports.

The line is in extreme disrepair, especially after the bombing, but leaders from both countries pledge to restart it, perhaps in only a couple years.

The Guardian online reports the Russian firm Stroytransgaz has been asked to present a proposal for the project.

Saleh also said a gas field near the Syrian border would be developed soon. He said Syria would need to make good on promises of security.

Swedish MPs mostly against Russia-German gas line

The project to pipe gas below the Baltic Sea, from Russia to Germany, is meeting resistance from Sweden.

Seventy percent of the parliamentarians responding to a Radio Sweden poll opposed the project. The current design has the gas pipeline running below Swedish waters in the Baltic Sea, thus needing Swedish approval.

Nordstream, the Russian-dominated pipeline consortium, has decided against the alternative plan running over Polish land.

Sixty-six percent of Sweden's 349 parliamentarians responded to the Radio Sweden survey. Ten percent support the 746-mile pipeline, with the rest undecided.

Opposition leaders fear unexploded bombs, including chemical and biological weapons dumped in the sea after World War II, could detonate.

No cause known for new Saudi pipeline spill

Saudi Aramco is responding to a spillage of oil near Riyadh, the capital, in the al-Dawadmi district Saturday.

The Arabic-language Al-Riyadh newspaper reported the spill is in "large quantities" from an Aramco pipeline.

Aramco officials responded when the pressure dropped in the line and sent trucks to the scene to recover and divert the oil.

There is no cause being reported for the spill.

Pakistan, Iran to meet on "peace pipeline"

Pakistan's petroleum secretary is leading a delegation to Tehran to make final a Gas Sales Purchase Agreement and Intergovernmental Framework Agreement for a pipeline sending gas from Iran to Pakistan and, perhaps, India.

The Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline hit a snag as India has been unable to secure an agreement on pricing. Gas is expected to start flowing in 2011.

Farrakh Qayyum, Pakistan's petroleum secretary, is leading his team to Tehran Monday, the Daily Times reports.

The GSPA and IFA will likely be signed within three months and could still include India.

The Times reports the countries will link the gas price to Japan's so-called crude cocktail and Japanese liquefied natural gas.

GAIL readies two new pipeline projects

India's natural gas pipeline firm GAIL is conducting feasibility studies for a manufacturing company and a construction company as domestic and foreign needs for more gas pipelines expands.

The Economic Times reports GAIL is open to joint ventures, keeping at least 50 percent stake, or going alone in the corporate ventures.

"We are considering to set up two companies with or without strategic partners," U.D. Choubey, chairman and managing director of GAIL, told The Times. "In case of (joint ventures), we would join hands with top domestic or international players in the respective fields."

GAIL plans to invest between $4 billion and $5 billion in expanding Indian pipeline networks within five years, according to a company spokesperson.

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