Pakistani PM calls for speedy completion of TAPI gas pipeline

ASHGABAT. July 23 (Interfax) - Pakistan is committed to the speedy completion of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline, Turkmenistan's Orient news agency quoted Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif as saying at a meeting with Turkmen Deputy Prime Minister Rashid Meredov, also the country's Foreign Minister, in Islamabad.

Sharif said he was happy with the third round of bilateral political consultations under the leadership of foreign ministers and called for regular interaction in the framework of institutional mechanisms. He stressed the need to expand trade, economic, investment and cultural relations between the two countries.

Turkmenistan is ready to speed up the implementation of the TAPI gas pipeline project through closer cooperation with its partners, Muhammetmyrat Amanov, general director of TAPI Pipeline Co. Ltd., the project operator, said at the International Investment Forum to Attract Investments in the Energy Sector of Turkmenistan (TEIF 2024) in Paris in April.

Amanov said that Turkmenistan had completed the construction of the pipeline on its own territory. With Afghanistan, he said, important agreements have been reached on security issues and the acquisition of land for laying gas pipeline pipes on Afghan territory. The construction of a section of the TAPI gas pipeline from the border of Turkmenistan to the Afghan city of Herat will mark the beginning of gas supplies to Afghanistan and increase investor confidence in the project, Amanov said.

Pakistan intends to include TAPI in the foreign investment protection act to attract international creditors. The agreement between the host country and Pakistan is at the final stage, he said.

Currently, the Turkmengaz state concern is negotiating with foreign oil and gas companies to attract participation in the implementation of TAPI and the development of one of the world's largest gas fields, Galkynysh, the resource base for the TAPI project, Amanov said.

The TAPI trunk gas pipeline, with a design capacity of 33 billion cubic meters of gas per year, will run from the Galkynysh gas field in southern Turkmenistan through the Afghan cities of Herat and Kandahar, Pakistani Quetta and Multan to the city of Fazilka in western India. The total length of the gas pipeline will be 1,814 km, 214 km of which go through the territory of Turkmenistan, 774 km through Afghanistan and 826 km through the territory of Pakistan to the border with India.

The project is being implemented by the TAPI Pipeline consortium, 85% of which is owned by Turkmengaz. The Afghan Gas Corporation, the Pakistani Inter State Gas Systems (Private) Limited and the Indian GAIL each have 5% shares in the consortium.

The total cost of the gas pipeline will be $10 billion, preliminary estimates say.