The role of cross-border pipelines has greatly increased over the last couple of years and is considered as one of the main ingredients of energy security. However there is no regulatory body regulating their activities, causing problems that disrupt the flow of hydro-carbon resources. A treaty like the Energy Charter Treaty is not sufficient to deal with the problems faced by cross-border pipelines. This viewpoint proposes the need for the creation of a new pipeline agency that can deal with the various issues affecting the pipelines. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.