Certainly there are politics around pipelines, but journalists sometimes make them out to be more than what they are, and are inclined to inflate the degree of US interest. In the Central Asian scene the players are the Central Asian states, China, Russia, and Europe; potential impact on US energy supply is negligible and the US is only peripherally concerned.

Pipelines linking China with Central Asia are a logical development, I can't see them as a real "win" for China and certainly not as a "loss" for the US. Oil and gas from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan will flow to China, the geographic logic is overwhelming. Those pipelines actually decrease China's dependence on the Middle East, not a bad thing for other buyers of ME oil. Of course China will build the pipelines, and of course they will make loans, spread some money, try to build influence in Central Asia. It would be silly for them not to. Of course there are also vulnerabilities. If China's relations with its western Muslims deteriorate to the point where terrorism begins, those pipelines will be targets, and if Russia sees China trying too hard to build influence in what they consider their turf they may get a bit prickly.

The Central Asian states don't want to depend on Russia to move their product, but they also don't want to piss the Russians off. So they will keep sending a large part of their product through Russia, while developing alternatives through China and to Europe via non-Russian routes, and they will get as close to China as they can without ruffling Moscow too badly. They will try to split exports up, sending product out by several routes, and they will try to keep on good terms with both China and Russia. Again, this is common sense.

The Russians don't need the gas or oil, but they want the influence over Europe that comes with Russian control over transit, and they want to keep the Central Asian states in their sphere of primary influence. The most likely major-power confrontation in that area would be Russia-China; no real likelihood of it happening soon but the potential is certainly there.

Europe wants gas and they don't want to be completely dependent on Russia. So they'll try to push the development of the southern pipelines. Qatar's huge production capacity and new fleet of LPG tankers is a factor in that equation; Europe is their natural market.

Iran is a bit of a wild card on the gas scene. They have reserves and some capacity; everyone will buy from them but nobody wants to be dependent on them, too much potential for disruption.

Of course right now there's a glut in gas, so the maneuvering is looking forward.

Russia and Qatar cutting back gas production... really, so what? Producers trimming output during a glut is not exactly news. What would we expect them to do? It's a good time to do all your maintenance work, and a good time to maybe keep facilities off line a bit longer than you have to... again, common sense.

Of course there's jostling and maneuvering, nations pursuing their interests, covering their butts, looking to their future options... business as usual. From the US perspective it's a picture that bears watching, but not a matter of monumental concern. To talk about "pipeline wars" and wins and losses is really over the top, but media and the analyst community do have a bit of a vested interest in hyperventilation.