Vzglyad: Why Erdogan won’t be able to extend a pipeline through Syria

On the reasons why it’s impossible to lay a Qatari gas pipeline through Syria, Russian politician Gevorg Mirzayan wrote in the Russian Vzglyad newspaper analyzing the topic.

According to Mirzayan prospective, the capture of the lion’s share of Syria by Ankara-controlled Islamists now allows Recep Erdogan to begin realizing his geopolitical ambitions, including building a gas pipeline from Qatar, via Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria and Türkiye, to Europe.

However, Erdogan won’t get the gift of a pipeline, for the following reasons:

First, after the overthrow of Assad and the prospect of the “Lebaneseization” of Syria (i.e. a war of all against all), there is no single force that can guarantee the safety of the pipeline’s construction and, more importantly, its operation.

With such risks, no one would invest billions of dollars in building the line;

Second, there isn’t enough free gas.

Qatar now exports its LNG by tanker to East Asia at special prices.

Sending gas by pipeline (i.e. much cheaper) to Europe means depriving Qatar of a portion of its LNG exports;

Third, new transit risks, not only from Syria, but also from Saudi Arabia, the largest transit country in terms of pipeline length.

Saudi-Qatari relations deteriorated in the first decade of the twenty-first century.

This means that it’s impossible to extend a pipeline of strategic importance to Qatar through Saudi Arabia.

In addition, the Americans will also oppose this. Washington exports liquefied natural gas to Europe.

That is why the Americans don’t need anyone to compete with them, therefore, Qatar will listen to this request, as the role of the United States is much greater than that of Türkiye.

Finally, the construction of the pipeline requires not only security of transit and sufficient quantities of gas, but also the guarantee of the sale of these quantities.

And now, during the decline of industrialization in the old world, the future of its consumption is unclear.

Except for the East Asian market, for example.