Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

The implementation of the TAPI gas pipeline will strengthen Turkmenistan's position in Asian gas market in the region.

The news was announced by Turkmenistan's Institute of Strategic Planning and Economic Development.

Rapid design work on the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) project is currently underway.

The TAPI project with a design 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.

The institute said the gas industry is a priority for Turkmenistan's fuel and energy complex.

"The industrial launch of the Galkynysh super-giant gas field in the Mary province in September 2013 became a significant event in its development," the institute noted.

The Galkynysh field the reserves of which are estimated at 26.2 trillion cubic meters of gas is the second largest gas field in the world. Within the first stage of the industrial development of the Galkynysh field, a complex of facilities has been constructed which enables the production of 30 billion cubic meters of commercial gas per year. The second stage of the development started in autumn.

China, which has been the key purchaser of Turkmenistan gas since 2009, has commissioned a gas pipeline with its equity and is ready to construct additional branches in order to increase the volume of purchase to 65 billion cubic meters of gas per year.

South Asia can be another important market for Turkmenistan. Bangladesh also seeks to buy Turkmen fuel, the institute said.

Turkmenistan, which is rich with hydrocarbon reserves, is one of the key players on the energy market in the resource-rich Caspian region. The Central Asian state has the world's fourth largest natural gas reserves after Russia, Iran, and Qatar. It produces about 70-80 billion cubic meters of gas a year.

Experts believe that TAPI is not only a regional project envisaging the transportation of Turkmen gas, but also a global project. The implementation of the project will strengthen Turkmenistan's independence, and its gas supplies to world markets will increase significantly.

The main benefit of the project is an opportunity to contribute to the stabilization of Afghanistan, and its implementation could contribute to the rehabilitation process in the post-war country as it will create job opportunities and provide Afghanistan with guaranteed income from the transit.