Ashgabat meetings discuss TAPI project
By Aynur Jafarova
Top managers of the fuel and energy companies from countries involved in the implementation of the 1,800-kilometer Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline (TAPI) held a series of meetings with Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov in Ashgabat on November 20.
The industry ministers of the mentioned countries arrived in the Turkmen capital to participate in the next meeting of the Steering Committee of the TAPI, Trend Agency reported.
During a meeting with the Turkmen president, Afghan Mining and Oil Resources Minister Mohammad Akbar Barakzaya expressed his country’s full support for the initiatives of Turkmenistan concerning the global energy security.
Pakistani State Minister for Oil and Natural Resources Jam Kamal Khan, for his part, confirmed the high interest of his country in the early start of the TAPI project.
Indian Minister of Oil and Gas Dharmendra Pradhan also expressed his country’s commitment to this energy project, initiated by Turkmenistan.
Berdymukhamedov, in turn, said the TAPI project is capable of having a positive impact on the situation in Central and South Asian regions in the future and in general, on the stability of the entire system of political and economic relations in the continent.
“We consider each project, in the first place, in terms of its economic viability and commercial benefit for all participating countries,” Berdymukhamedov said.
The Turkmen president also noted the construction of the pipeline, which will provide long-term and guaranteed supplies of Turkmen natural gas to South-East Asia in the near future, is a significant step towards the implementation of Turkmenistan's energy strategy, focused on the creation of a multi-vector system of energy supplies to the world's major markets.
The TAPI project with the proposed capacity of 33 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year will extend from Galkynysh field in Turkmenistan through the Afghan cities of Herat and Kandahar to its final point at a settlement on the Pakistani-Indian border.
Experts believe that TAPI is not only a regional project envisaging the transportation of Turkmen gas, but also a global one. The implementation of the project will strengthen Turkmenistan's independence, and its gas supplies to world markets will increase significantly.
The project is an opportunity to contribute to the stability of Afghanistan, and its implementation could contribute to the rehabilitation process in the post-war country. It will also create more job opportunities and provide Afghanistan with a guaranteed income from the transit.
ADB was appointed as the transaction advisor for the TAPI gas pipeline project in November 2013. In that role, ADB advised on the establishment of the TAPI pipeline company as an integral part of the larger goal of identifying and selecting a commercial consortium leader to spearhead the construction and operation of the pipeline. When selected, the commercial consortium leader will take a substantial stake in the company.