Trans-Saharan Pipeline

[Alberto]

Does anyone have any more information about the planned pipeline crossing the Sahara? Toatal seem to back the project:

FT.com / Companies / Energy - Total to back Trans-Sahara gas pipeline

I feel it would be horrible disaster for the desert and its peoples...

Any news and feedback welcome!!!

Alberto

[Richard Washington]

I'm not sure how a gas pipeline through the desert could ever be made safe from the various insurgencies in Niger and Algeria. But it might serve as a threat to the Russians....

[Throttlemeister]

I worked over in Algeria back in 1999 on a natural gas pipeline project near the Lybian border going all the way across country to Morocco and under the straight to Europe. There's hundreds of lines all throughout Algeria.

I saw little evidence of problems other than the governement keeping money from their people and in the hands of Sonatrach which controls the oil and gas resources.

Another pipeline project there should be the least of their worries IMHO.

These projects do put locals to work that are involed in their construction and support services. When I was there, there was another American, 15 Turkish welders, and 500 Algerians working on the small part of the overall project.
I loved it there and regret that I didn't have the chance to have a bike while there.

[Chris Scott]

I think Throt sums it up well: the govts are the real disaster for the people (not just in the desert); there are scores of pipes buried all over Alg already that have never been attacked AFAIK; it brings a bit of disruption but much-needed employment and, if it's like the current water pipe in south Alg, once buried you won't even know its there apart from the pumps.

Was there not talk of a Russian-built pipe from Doba in Cameroon up through Chad to Libya a year or two back? While it lasts it's better than a desert full of solar panels!

Ch

[Richard Washington]

I was thinking that a gas pipleline would need compressor and metering stations every 100 km or so. Through northern Niger and southern Algeria I'd imagine these would be vulnerable, especially if the pipeline was known to be delivering primarily to Europe - a destination the insurgences love to hate. Its the servicing and monitoring of the compressor stations that would break up the remoteness of the Sahara.

[ferdi]

Sorry Chris,

why "While it lasts it's better than a desert full of solar panels!" I can't understand. Please explain it a little more.

Ferdi
Freiburg - Germany

[Chris Scott]

Hello Ferdi, I meant from a purely touristic, wilderness-appreciating point of view and was not being 100% serious.

But maybe they would not take up so much space after all?
The Hindu : Front Page : Sahara sun could power all of Europe

Ch

[Richard Washington]

“The sun is very strong there and it’s very reliable. There is starting to be a growing number of cost estimates of both wind and concentrated solar power for north Africa"... He said only a fraction of the Sahara, probably the size of a small country, would need to be covered to produce enough energy to supply the whole of Europe.
from
The Hindu : Front Page : Sahara sun could power all of Europe



I vote for Tunisia......

[Richard Washington]

Update on the trans Sahara pipeline
BBC NEWS | Business | Sahara gas pipeline gets go-ahead

Nigeri, Nigeria, Niger and Algeria have signed an agreement to build a multi-billion dollar pipeline to take Nigerian gas across the Sahara to the Mediterraneana

"one concern is security, as a pipeline could be a target for Tuareg rebels or al-Qaeda in North Africa, both of whom are active among the unpatrolled expanses and porous borders of the Sahara"

[Toyark]

Originally Posted by Richard Washington

Update on the trans Sahara pipeline
BBC NEWS | Business | Sahara gas pipeline gets go-ahead

Nigeri, Nigeria, Niger and Algeria have signed an agreement to build a multi-billion dollar pipeline to take Nigerian gas across the Sahara to the Mediterraneana

"one concern is security, as a pipeline could be a target for Tuareg rebels or al-Qaeda in North Africa, both of whom are active among the unpatrolled expanses and porous borders of the Sahara"

Never mind 'porous borders'.......I think what is going to be 'porous' is the pipeline.... if what happened to the solar panels that used to power the 'Balises' in the desert happens again...