India joins the TAPI gas pipeline project
India attended the 10th Steering Committee Meeting of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India Gas Pipeline Project, which was held on 23 - 24 April, 2008 at Islamabad. In a major development, India was formally admitted as a member of the TAPI Project at the meeting. It may be mentioned that the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (TAP) project was initially conceived in the year 2002.
The Steering Committee Meeting met at the level of Oil and Gas Ministers of the four countries. ADB is playing the role of lead facilitator for the Project. The gas is expected to flow to India from Turkmenistan in the year 2014. The Project will help to promote energy security of the participating countries and strength regional cooperation.
During the meeting in Islamabad, an Intergovernmental Framework Agreement, to facilitate implementation of the Project, was initialed by the four participating Ministers. As per the text of the Agreement, the Pipeline will be executed by a Consortium. The gas will be supplied from Douletabad and other fields in Turkmenistan and the Principle of unobstructed transit of natural gas, in accordance with international norms, will be followed. The safety and security of the pipeline and related infrastructure will be provided by concerned Governments in their respective territories. Transportation tariff will be based on the cost of service method.
The 1,680 KM long, 56” in diameter TAPI pipeline will supply 90 MMSCMD of gas. The length of the pipeline in Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan upto India border is 145 Km, 735 Km and 800 Km respectively. Gas utilization by Afghanistan will be about to 5.0 MMSCMD during 1st/2nd year and 14 MMSCMD from the third year onward, with the remaining quantity of gas equally shared by India and Pakistan.
The next meeting of the Steering Committee will be held in India.
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