Kazakhstan negotiating accession to TAPI gas pipeline project

ALMATY. Oct 22 (Interfax) - Kazakhstan is negotiating accession to the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project, Kazakh Deputy Energy Minister Yerlan Akkenzhanov said.

"The transport potential for hydrocarbon export and transit has been developing. Gas is successfully transited from neighboring states to Central Asian regions. An illustrative example is the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project. Kazakhstan is interested in taking part in the gas pipeline's construction," Akkenzhanov said at the Kazakhstan-Afghanistan business forum in Almaty on Tuesday.

"Kazakhstan is negotiating the issue with the Turkmen side," he said.

"The successful entry of a Kazakh company into the project will open new vistas for cooperation between our states in the field of gas," Akkenzhanov said.

As reported, the Kazakh Energy Ministry and the Turkmengaz state company signed a memorandum of intent to develop cooperation in the gas industry in September. Turkmen oil and gas industry executives met with the heads of ADNOC (the UAE) and Hyundai Engineering Co. Ltd. (South Korea) on July 29 to discuss the possible involvement of Kazakh companies in the third stage of the development of the Turkmen Galkynysh gas field to supply gas for the TAPI pipeline.

The TAPI gas pipeline will be 1,814 kilometers long, including 214 kilometers in Turkmenistan, 774 kilometers in Afghanistan, and 826 kilometers in Pakistan up to the border with India. The pipeline with an annual rated capacity of 33 billion cubic meters will be constructed from the Galkynysh gas field in southern Turkmenistan to Fazilka in western India via Herat and Kandahar in Afghanistan and Quetta and Multan in Pakistan.

TAPI Pipeline Company Limited, in which Turkmengaz has an 85% stake, oversees the project. Afghanistan Oil and Gas Corporation, Pakistan's Inter State Gas Systems (Private) Limited and India's GAIL have 5% each.

The gas pipeline cost is tentatively estimated at $10 billion.

The Galkynysh field is on a trial run. Together with the adjacent Yashlar and Garakel fields, its gas reserves are estimated at 27.4 trillion cubic meters. Current gas production is 20 billion cubic meters per year, versus a projected 30 billion cubic meters.