Exploring the Conditions for Cooperative Energy Governance: A Comparative Study of Two Asian Pipelines

Abstract

A central but often unasked question in political and sociological scholarship concerns the conditions that precipitate cooperation on large-scale transnational energy projects, especially among “developing” and “emerging” economies. Using the example of two multi-billion dollar pipeline systems – the Trans-ASEAN Natural Gas Pipeline (TAGP) Network in Southeast Asia and Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) Pipeline in the Caspian Sea – this article explores the factors that result in successfully completed projects, and those that lead to conflict and contention. After drawing from extensive research interviews and field research, the article approaches politics and technology through the lens of science and technology studies. It relies on the interdisciplinary concepts of “relevant social group” and “technological frame” to identify coalitions of actors associated with each pipeline project. The paper then investigates the interests and motivations behind these groups to illuminate the challenges facing the TAGP and those that accelerated the completion of the BTC. The paper concludes by offering some thoughts on the diverse elements needed to incentivise cross-border energy infrastructure, and what these may mean for energy and public policy scholars.

Keywords:

• Southeast Asia
• Caspian Sea
• energy governance
• infrastructure
• natural gas pipelines
• oil pipelines

Acknowledgments

The author is appreciative to the Centre on Asia and Globalisation for the financial assistance needed to conduct the research interviews, field research, and travel for this project. All research interviews were carried out by the author and Dr Toby J. Carroll over the course of fifteen months. The author is also grateful to the Singaporean Ministry of Education for grant T208A4109, which has supported elements of the work reported here. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Singaporean Ministry of Education.