The Middle East is forecast to add the third highest trunk pipeline length to the global crude oil pipelines industry between 2018 and 2022, contributing a total length of 5,655 km, according to leading data and analytics company GlobalData
In addition, the region is set to spend an estimated capex of US$21.6bn in the given time period.
North America is forecast to add the highest trunk pipeline length, with a total length of 16,136 km, with Africa being the second highest with an addition of 6,916 km of planned crude oil pipelines, said GlobalData.
The company’s report ‘Global Crude Oil Pipelines Industry Outlook to 2022’ forecasts that around 36,876 km of planned pipeline length will be added globally by 2022, taking the total global crude oil pipeline length to 398,769 km by 2022.
North America has the highest new build capex spending of all the regions, with approximately US$48.8bn during the 2018–2022 period. Among the countries in the region, the US would have the highest planned pipeline additions of 11,168 km by 2022.
Soorya Tejomoortula, oil and gas analyst at GlobalData, explained, “Booming unconventional oil and gas production is, in turn, driving the growth of the pipeline network in the US. More and more operators are focusing on connecting growing unconventional production with the Gulf coast for export of oil and gas.”
The report also states that the three longest planned global crude oil pipelines in the forecast period are Keystone XL Project in Canada, Basra–Aqaba oil pipeline in Iraq, and South Sudan–Djibouti in South Sudan with lengths of 1,897 km, 1,700 km and 1,600 km respectively. All the three are planned natural gas pipelines.
