Editor’s note: Please see the expanded disclosure below about the author and his involvement in the pipeline industry.

In recent weeks, geopolitical uncertainties have sent tremors through international energy markets, underscoring just how fragile countries’ access to critical resources are. With Saudi Arabia and its allies cutting diplomatic ties with Qatar, global access to the country’s bounty of natural gas supplies has come into question – and as the Washington Post recently indicated, “Qatar wields a potential economic weapon if the crisis escalates and countries around the world that depend on its supply may find themselves needing to side with the tiny nation.”