Pipeline transport when the first crude oil pipeline was built. Credit for the development of pipeline transport is disputed, with competing claims for Vladimir Shukhov and the Branobel company in the late 19th century, and the Oil Transport Association, which first constructed a wrought iron pipeline over a track from an oil field in Pennsylvania to a railroad station in Oil Creek, in the 1860s. Pipelines are generally the most economical way to transport large quantities of oil, refined oil products or natural gas over land. For example, in 2014, pipeline transport of crude oil cost about $5 per barrel, while rail
Northern Lights (pipeline) by the Vukhtyl gas field, but later the pipeline was extended in order to connect with the Urengoy gas field. The Northern Lights pipeline system has a total length of , of which around is used to transport Russian gas to Europe. The pipeline runs from the Urengoy gas field through Vuktyl, Ukhta, Gryazovets, Torzhok and Smolensk to Minsk in Belarus and from there to Poland, Ukraine and Lithuania. A part of the newer Yamal–Europe pipeline runs parallel to the Northern Lights pipeline. A branch line from Gryazovets through Saint Petersburg to Vyborg supplies the Saint Petersburg area and Finland.