The perils of pipedreams

Serious plumbing problems have arisen in the last year for the region’s multibillion-dollar pipeline plans. For starters, the Euro Arab Mashreq Gas Pipeline, also known as the Arab Gas Pipeline (AGP), has been attacked 14 times over the past year in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, ending exports to Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, as well as to Israel via an offshoot pipeline. At the tail end of the 1,200 kilometer pipeline, the uprising in Syria has postponed the completion of the AGP’s final leg to Kilis in Turkey.   Meanwhile, the recent European Union (EU) sanctions on Iran have spelled the end of the viability of the much feted Nabucco gas pipeline that was to take gas from the AGP, Iran and the Caspian region, via Turkey, to Europe. The root of such pipeline problems is that usual suspect: politics. The AGP was attacked in the Sinai, according to statements by the