That means they are further from the infrastructure of platforms, ports and pipelines, and more costly.

BBC: Study predicts growth in oil and gas field numbers

Equally, what is China doing building roads, ports and pipelines in Myanmar and Pakistan, connecting west and south-west China with the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean?

ECONOMIST: Heavenly dynasty

Global oil companies have pulled their employees out of Libya, rebel forces seem to be in control of ports and pipelines, and Gaddafi is focusing his eastern counter offensive on oil refinery towns like Marsa El Brega.

FORBES: The Libyan Crisis: Where Are Oil Prices Going?

New pipelines, ports and storage are now being built, but it is all a bit late.

ECONOMIST: A liberalised market is put to the test

Infrastructural works such as the construction of ports, dredging, pipelines and oil or mineral extraction may also damage sites.

UNESCO: Underwater Cultural Heritage

Hurricane Sandy struck the East Coast on October 29, causing severe damage to the petroleum refining and distribution sector -- including pipelines, refineries, bulk terminals, and ports.

WHITEHOUSE: The White House

Oil in the Caspian region is now channeled principally through pipelines to Russian Black Sea ports, and Moscow wants to keep it that way, because that means it controls the flow.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Russia's Oil Grab

Even Syria, which has long been accused of turning a blind eye to the infiltration of jihadis from its territory, has promised to seal its borders better, and perhaps even to expand the capacity of pipelines taking Iraqi oil to its Mediterranean ports.

ECONOMIST: Arab foreign policy

By 2010 it expects to send gas in liquefied state from reserves near the Barents Sea to ports in the U.S. And the company is looking eastward, too, with plans to build pipelines to China.

FORBES: Energy Tsar