Regional Competition for Energy Resources

Byline: Tanvir Ahmad Khan Let me begin with three news items. Xinhua put out a brief story confirming that a crude oil pipeline between Russia and China was now operational. It originates from the Russian town of Skovorodino, runs for 72 kms in Russia, reaches Mohe in China and continues for 927 kms in China before ending at Daqing in northeast China. Years of speculation that the terrain would make it very difficult to connect eastern Siberia to the Chinese system are put paid to as this new pipeline (ESPO pipeline) carries 42,000 metric tons of crude within a day of its inauguration. Industry analysts quickly note that it "overturns decades of Russian dependence on European markets". This path-breaking pipeline is the first of a series to connect the two giants: one awash with hydrocarbons and the other insatiably hungry for them