STRATEGIC SIGNIFICANCE OF PIPE SECURITY

Development of a country depends upon several factors involving the size of the nation, population, living standards, fulfillment of energy demand, economic stability of its institutions etc. Out of these, energy need fulfillment is the need of the hour because this is how all the activities affecting the industrial, commercial and residential development can be controlled. Nowadays, all the developing activities depend upon the availability of energy and its harnessing power. In most of the countries, natural resources are the main source of energy (coal and petroleum). In order to harness such resources generation plants and factories are built up. Also, a part of the fuel extracted from such resources is transported to far destinations in case of non-availability of nearby harnessing site. Thus. Pipelines used for transportation of fuel comprising petroleum products or gas or water came into existence. With the extravagant use of pipelines as a basic mode of fuel transportation, its protection against sabotage, illegal tapping and terrorist action, combined with the detection of leaks and in-line equipment failure, is a high priority in all countries. 

Strategy refers to a plan to reach a goal. When one is preparing to undertake a task, the plan to get the job done could be called the strategy for accomplishing the task. Strategic importance is a way of evaluating how important a particular part of the plan is in the overall scheme of the work. Pipeline security does not only bear great importance in the basic industrial functioning of a nation, but its negligence and improper execution can also affect a country’s economic, political and social ecosystem. Normal security of a pipeline involves physical security at vital access points, changing infrastructure design to avoid chokepoints, managing system interdependency by using SCADA , effective coordination between different levels of authorities, cybersecurity – knowing the threats and focus on threat management and remote monitoring But, there is a need of Strategic significance of pipeline security which involves the different aspects of how a pipeline can be called secured with respect to different notorious conditions. For the same, the understanding of the social, economic and political issues related to this agenda is important.

                                                                                                                                                                                           

First, let us take into account the effect on the common population. If a pipeline is damaged, significant revenues will be lost, harm may be caused to the environment, and the leakage could be a potential danger to the local population. The failure of pipeline security can cause a fire resulting in burning nearby houses, failures of transmission lines. Buried pipelines are vulnerable to permanent ground deformation and wave propagation (shaking) which can lead to an earthquake. Ground deformation can include fault rupture, landslide, and liquefaction and associated lateral spreading and settlement. Thus, their safety of pipeline needed to be done to prevent the collateral damage to the local people who were, in fact, to be benefited by the pipeline. Not only the human population but marine and animals are badly affected by pipeline damage particularly oil spill.

Second, Pipeline installation greatly will affect the GDP growth of a country because more transit pipelines will be needed in the future. Oil and gas reserves close to market are being depleted. Increasingly, new reserves are being discovered and developed further from markets and also often in situations where the source is landlocked. Because of economies of scale, road or rail transport of oil and gas is extremely expensive. This leaves pipelines as the only viable alternative for transporting significant volumes. Pipelines can be an easy “soft target” for terrorist organizations whose declared aim is to damage the economic and political interests of a country. A terrorist attack on an unprotected pipeline could have catastrophic consequences. In a fragile economy, threats to pipeline infrastructure can have a significant effect on both industries and communities, whether they are intentional disruptions or inadvertent damage caused by excavation equipment, land movement or pipeline leaks.

Third, there are political issues related to pipeline safety. Pipelines connecting two or more countries or pipelines spreading through different states within the same country need to be properly handled and proper paperwork need to be done before the installation and the after-effects in case of any mishappening at the pipeline.   Based on political perspectives, three kinds of pipelines can be defined— domestic, cross-border, and transit. The key in differentiating between the three types is the nature of the governing jurisdiction. Domestic pipelines are within an existing sovereign territory. “Sovereign” is defined as the national or regional ability to unilaterally abrogate agreements. Such pipelines are subject to the laws and regulations of that territory. Cross-border pipelines directly link the producer with the consumer state. Transit pipelines cross a third sovereign territory to get to market. Normally the terms of transit are enshrined in an agreement that, among other things, determines the transit payments. These are payments made to the transit government. Normally payments include a transit fee, but they can also set the terms under which the transit country can lift offtake. Cross-border and transit pipelines have a number of common characteristics that can generate conflict. Different parties are involved, with different interests and motivations.

However, armed security guards cannot be everywhere at the same time. While aerial surveillance vehicles that have a passing inspection window and closed circuit television (CCTV) security cameras are effective for surveillance, they are not applicable over long distances and are less useful if not incorporated into a complete security system. The majority of existing detection technologies only provides notice that a damaging event has already occurred so an operator can put into place reactive countermeasures to stop the associated costs from escalating. 

So, it can be concluded that pipeline security strategically affects the whole economic, social, political and industrial development of a country and it is a matter of great importance and its effects are long reaching and failure in pipeline safety can cause havoc. Thus, careful and effective planning is required for the safety schemes used and executed at the right time, in the right place and for the right cause.