Supply of pipes for TAPI carried out through Azerbaijan
By Narmina Mammadova
At present, supply of steel pipes for construction of TAPI gas pipeline is carried out, according to the Media-Turkmen News Agency (orient.tm). These steel pipes are procured to the amount of $ 40 million, which were allocated by Saudi Development Fund, under the contract concluded between Turkmengas State Concern and Global Pipe Company, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The pipes for transportation of natural gas are delivering by sea from Dammam Port, Saudi Arabia, to Batumi Port, Georgia, and then transit through Azerbaijan to Turkmenistan, to Turkmenbashi International Port.
As the Ministry of Railway Transport of Turkmenistan informed ORIENT, 188 wagons, each of which has four standard pipes for gas-main pipeline, were shipped in accordance with planned schedule in Turkmenbashi port as of November 19. From Turkmenbashi Port, the pipes will be delivered to Ymambaba station, Mary province, by rail. Over 5,000 meters of pipes have already been unloaded here.
In accordance with the contract, over 35,000 meters of steel pipes placed in 750 wagons to be delivered to Turkmenistan in two stages. Steel pipes are immediately transported to construction sites for assembling.
The cost of the TAPI project is estimated at 8-10 billion dollars. It is planned to supply 33 billion cubic meters of gas annually through the 1,800-kilometer gas pipeline from the Galkynysh gas field in Turkmenistan. Pakistan and India will receive up to 40 million cubic meters of gas per day.
Afghanistan is expected to earn more than $ 400 million annually from its transit role in the project.
14 million per day are for Afghanistan. The laying of the Afghan section of the gas pipeline took place on February 23, 2018, and the beginning of the Pakistani section of the gas pipeline is scheduled for December.
According to experts, the supply of pipes will significantly speed up the construction of TAPI gas pipeline, which will connect Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.
The main concern about reliability of pipeline is the ongoing military activity in Afghanistan.
Political scientists believe that TAPI would play important role in the context of restoration of the economic infrastructure of Afghanistan, as well as its peaceful revival and stabilization of general political situation in this distressful country.
Construction of TAPI gas pipeline was launched in December 2015. However, the construction of Afghan part commenced in early 2018. The annual capacity of the gas pipeline will be 33 billion cubic meters.
As the leader of TAPI Pipeline Company Limited, Turkmengas State Concern, which has a controlling stake, is the main financier and project manager. The consortium also includes the Afghanistan Gas Corporation, Inter State Gas Systems (Private) Limited and Indian GAIL. Turkmengas State Concern holds 85 percent stake on construction and operation of pipeline. Afghanistan, Pakistan and India will each cover 5 percent. Raw material for TAPI will be provided from Galkynysh, the largest natural gas field in Turkmenistan.
Turkmen government has already cut the cost of TAPI (Turkmenistan - Afghanistan - Pakistan - Indian gas pipeline) project from $ 10 billion to $ 7 billion to facilitate the realization of pipeline by attracting investors from Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
The main investor is the Asian Development Bank, which technically and financially supports the project. The Islamic Development Bank has allocated $ 700 million for the construction of the Turkmen part of the pipeline.
The European Union envisages joining the TAPI pipeline to the Southern Gas Corridor to meet Europe’s energy needs.
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