Malaysia eyes participation in TAPI construction
By Gunay Hasanova
The Malaysian government will study the possibility of its companies’ participation in the construction of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline, Prime Minister of Malaysia Najib Razak said.
Razak made the remarks speaking to the press, following the negotiations with Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, who recently was in Kuala Lumpur on an official visit, the Oil and Gas Complex of Turkmenistan reported.
Razak also stated about the readiness of Malaysian companies to participate in a number of projects for the construction of production facilities, development of the petrochemical industry and manufacturing of finished products in Turkmenistan.
The Oil and Gas Complex of Turkmenistan reported that Ashgabat is ready to provide certain volumes of gas in the TAPI pipeline on the swap scheme to foreign companies that produce gas on the Turkmen shelf after they enter the TAPI Pipeline Company Limited consortium.
Earlier, President Berdimuhamedov offered the business circles of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Germany and other countries to take part in the implementation of the TAPI project.
Turkmengas and Turkmenneftegazstroy state concerns have been constructing the Turkmen section of the TAPI since December 2015.
The annual capacity of the gas pipeline will reach 33 billion cubic meters. It is planned that the total length of the TAPI pipeline will be 1,814 kilometers. Some 214 kilometers will pass through the territory of Turkmenistan, 774 kilometers - Afghanistan, 826 kilometers - Pakistan.
The project is expected to be completed in late 2019.
Malaysia is one of the most important and long-standing partners of Turkmenistan in trade, economic and investment spheres. A long-term partnership with PETRONAS, which is one of the first companies that started to work at Turkmenistan’s offshore field, is an example of effective use of the existing bilateral potential in this area.
High technologies, banking sphere, urban planning, agricultural processing and food industry, tourism are among priority directions for cooperation between Turkmenistan and Malaysia.
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Gunay Hasanova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @gunhasanova
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