TAPI Project: Turkmenistan’s assurance to Pakistan to allay concerns

According to the reports, Turkmenistan has assured Pakistan that its concerns over the TAPI project will be allayed.

A meeting on the TAPI project was held in Islamabad under the chairmanship of Special Assistant Petroleum Nadeem Babar and the head of TAPI Pipeline Company.

According to a statement issued by the Petroleum Division, the two countries expressed satisfaction over the progress of the project despite Corona.

Turkmen officials say talks are under way with international lenders to build the project. However, Pakistani officials have said that they want to lay the foundation stone of the Tapi gas pipeline project in Pakistan soon after the completion of pending matters.

Turkmenistan plans to start construction of a pipeline to Herat in Afghanistan, while Pakistan has proposed to start work on the project in Afghanistan as well as in Pakistan.

Photo Credit: NS Energy

According to sources, Pakistan demands that Afghanistan’s risk should not be included in the cost of the TAPI project and that the gas delivery point for Pakistan should be Chaman instead of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan border.

It should be noted that TAPI is a joint gas pipeline project of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran, under which gas pipeline nine will run from Turkmenistan to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.

The cornerstone of this 10 billion mega project was laid in December 2015, under which the 1,700 km long gas pipeline was to be completed in two years, but the project has not yet been completed.

Turkmenistan assured Pakistan that the relevant agreements would address Pakistan’s concerns regarding price and delivery point.

Under the TAPI project, Pakistan is to be provided 1.32 billion cubic feet of gas per day.