Turkmen president cites need to accelerate TAPI construction
Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov stressed the need to intensify work on the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) transnational gas pipeline, Turkmen television said on Tuesday.
According to the report, the issue was discussed at a government meeting, the statement said.
"A report on the operations of equipping Galkynysh gas field in Mary region with the necessary facilities was also voiced. It is the future key raw material source for a number of alternative projects.
"Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov stressed the need to intensify work on the practical realization of the TAPI project," a statement said.
According to the Turkmen leader, the formation of a multi-variant system of transporting the energy resources to the world market is a key aspect of Ashgabat's energy policy.
The basic document for the promotion of the TAPI project is the Ashgabat agreement of the state parties on the commencement of the practical implementation of the TAPI project signed in late 2010.
In May 2012, the Turkmen government entered into an agreement for the sale of natural gas with India's GAIL Ltd. A memorandum of understanding was signed with Afghanistan.
The design capacity of TAPI is 33 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year. The estimated length is 1,735 kilometres. It is expected that the pipeline will extend from Turkmenistan's largest gas field Galkhynysh through the Afghan cities of Herat and Kandahar to the Fazilka settlement on the Pakistani-Indian border.