Oil and Gas Pipeline Watch

Israeli security depends on economic ties.

The national security of Israel is dependent on several pipeline arteries as the world still relies on fossil fuels for its energy supplies, officials said.

Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, the Israeli minister of national infrastructures, writes in an issue brief for the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs that expanding the Israeli energy infrastructure is the central point of national policy.

"Israel today is at the height of a revolution whose main focus is the integration of natural gas into the electricity and industrial sectors," he said.

The Israeli government in September expressed interest in an $11 billion multipurpose pipeline project, Med Stream, to bring crude oil from Turkey to Israel through the Mediterranean Sea. The project includes accommodations for links to the Turkish port of Ceyhan for oil as well as regional natural gas routes.

An additional pipeline from El Arish in Egypt on the Sinai Peninsula to the port at Ashkelon in Israel will supply Israel with natural gas for the next 20 years.

The minister said energy cooperation, such as the Egyptian and Turkish arrangements, is the foundation of peaceful relations in the region.

"Energy security is a component of national security," he said.

Pakistani lawmakers back IPI.

Iranian state-run media report Pakistani lawmakers expressed their support for moving ahead with the planned Iran-Pakistan-India natural gas pipeline.

Pakistani Law Minister Farooq Naek told the Upper House of Parliament in Islamabad last week both countries had agreed to establish a joint company to raise funds for the pipeline, the Islamic Republic News Agency reported. The shares for the firm will be floated in the public finance sector.

Tehran and Islamabad had been in conflict over the gas pricing mechanism for the planned 1,724-mile pipeline from the Iranian South Pars gas field. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made progress over the deal, however, on the sidelines of the 63rd U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York last month.

Both sides had moved forward on the Gas Sales Purchase Agreement earlier this year, with India and Pakistan reaching concessions on transit fees. New Delhi had shied away from talks on the pipeline amid concerns over the transit issue.

For his part, Pakistani opposition Sen. Nisar Memon told lawmakers two main issues were holding the project back, however.

"These include Iran's decision to renegotiate gas sales and the Indian indecision to participate in the project," he said.

Meanwhile, Indian Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram met with his Iranian counterpart in Washington last week to express his support for the IPI pipeline.

"He asked me about our commitment to the pipeline," said Chidambaram. "I said we remain committed."

India and Pakistan are facing a looming energy crisis as demand far outpaces domestic supply. The $7.4 billion pipeline will carry around 7.7 billion cubic meters from Iran per year.

Gazprom plays European politics on South Stream.

Russian energy giant Gazprom is coordinating its policies on the South Stream pipeline through Eastern Europe with parliamentary elections in Romania, a study shows.

Gazprom officials are scheduled to visit Bucharest, the Romanian capital, next week to hold talks on energy cooperation in the South Stream project ahead of November elections there, Washington's Jamestown Foundation observes. South Stream is seen as a rival to the Western-backed Nabucco gas pipeline through Turkey.

Romanian President Traian Basescu last week called on European Union members to "accelerate" action on Nabucco, yet Economic Minister Varujan Vosganian later said his country was interested in the rival, South Stream.

The move on South Stream is meant to overcome some financial concerns over the planned route for the project, as moving through Romania, rather than Bulgaria, will cut 12 percent from the $10 billion price tag.

Meanwhile, Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, the foreign affairs chairman for the EU, called on Bucharest to oppose South Stream as Europe struggles to ease its dependence on Russian energy reserves.

"You would be left to the supplier's mercy, pay a price directly proportionate to the level of your dependence, (and) inflict another blow to the Nabucco project," he said.

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(e-mail: energy@upi.com)