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Work on TAPI pipeline to kick off in Pakistan this month

Team from Turkmenistan will arrive to undertake route survey, feasibility study

Zafar Bhutta February 01, 2017

Leasders from India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan press the button to begin the welding process of the TAPI Gas Pipeline in the Turkmenistan city of Mary PHOTO: AFP

ISLAMABAD: Work on the long-awaited Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (Tapi) gas pipeline will kick off in Pakistan this month as Tapi Company, which has the mandate to run the pipeline, has awarded the project management consultant (PMC) contract to German firm ILF.

The consultant is ready to conduct route survey, detailed engineering and feasibility study in the current month.

Four countries ink deal for $10 billion TAPI gas pipeline project

“A team from Turkmenistan will reach Islamabad on February 14 to begin work on the route survey, engineering and feasibility study to implement the Tapi pipeline project,” a senior government official said. The team will first start work in Pakistan and then it will proceed to Afghanistan.

“Pipeline construction and gas-field development has started in Turkmenistan and we appreciate efforts of Turkmenistan authorities to expedite the project,” Inter State Gas Systems Managing Director Mobin Saulat said while talking to The Express Tribune.

He added that Pakistan had reiterated its firm commitment and continued to provide full support for the Tapi pipeline.

Efforts to achieve financial close were going on and the project would be commissioned as per schedule, he said.

Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India have signed a $10-billion investment agreement for the Tapi pipeline in a bid to kick off activities, update feasibility study and finalise pipeline route in Afghanistan.

Leaders of the four countries performed the ground-breaking of the project, which would help ease energy deficiency in South Asia, in December 2015.

According to the agreement, Turkmenistan will invest around $25 billion to deliver 3.2 billion cubic feet of gas per day (bcfd) to energy-hungry Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.

Of the total, $15 billion will be invested in developing the gas field whereas $10 billion will be poured into laying the pipeline over 1,680 km connecting Afghanistan, Pakistan and India with Turkmenistan.

ADB offers $1b loan for TAPI gas pipeline

Officials said a consortium of Japanese companies was working on a fast-track basis to develop the gas field in Turkmenistan.

A gas sale and purchase agreement had already been inked in 2013 to set the pricing mechanism under which the gas price at Turkmenistan border would be around 20% cheaper than the price of Brent crude.

Pakistan and India will receive 1.325 bcfd of gas each while Afghanistan will get 500 mmcfd.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 2^nd, 2017.

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COMMENTS (3)

Syed Haider Abbas Zaidi | 7 years ago | Reply To me it looks a achievable target as every country is the brnificery of the Mega Project and nothing is impossible in this fast working world.It is the matter of "Enthusiasm and NO Cruption" for every Four Countries to take their peoples to upper level of life.

OSD | 7 years ago | Reply I would be very surprised if the TAPI project ever sees the light of the day. It is too long, traverses four countries with four different political climates, has to go through war torn Afghanistan, deal with Afghanistan''s rivalry with Pakistan and then has to cross Pakistan to connect with arch rival India. Either this project will close down or it will resolve wars and conflicts which have already cost more than a million lives. I know where to place my bet on this one.

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abreez | 7 years ago | Reply Iran may cancel $7b pipeline project with Pakistan tehrantimes.com January 29, 2017 If negotiations fail to come up with a way to feasibly realize the project, Iran’s National Gas Company Head Hamid Reza Araqi said on Friday that the project could be cancelled entirely. The project has already undergone 15 years of negotiations, beginning as the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project. Pakistan and Iran finally signed the initial agreement in 2009, while India withdrew from the deal. The deal was signed by Pakistani President Zardari and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. In accordance with this deal, Iran was to provide 22 million cubic meters per day of gas. Pakistan was slated to begin importing Iranian gas imports in early 2015, but the country has not yet begun construction of the related pipeline, nor has Iran completed its project to transit South Pars gas to the Pakistani border. Iran was planning to build a 180-kilometer pipeline. The pipeline was intended to connect Iran's giant South Pars gas field with Pakistan's southern Baluchistan and Sindh provinces. The project is crucial for Pakistan if they are to avert a growing energy crisis already causing severe electricity shortages in the country of about 170 million, while it also grapples with Islamist militancy. Tehran had at one point offered to loan Pakistan $500 million—a third of the cost of Pakistan’s portion of the pipeline—to start pipeline construction in Pakistan’s territory. This offer was later revoked due to financial problems caused by sanctions.

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