Ashgabat hosted a meeting of the steering committee for the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project.
Plans on the formation of an international consortium were determined, the Turkmen Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources was quoted as saying by Trend News Agency. ‘Plans for the near future related to the accelerated implementation of the transnational pipeline construction project were determined at the meeting of the steering committee which was held in a constructive format’, the information said.
Heads of ministries and representatives of all the project’s member states and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) attended a meeting. Participants have also considered and approved the main report of the meeting of the technical working group on TAPI gas pipeline project. Issues related to the technical aspects of promoting the TAPI project were agreed.
According to the information, Turkmenistan has assumed specific commitments and is fulfilling them. This is a guarantee of additional dividends to all business entities that are interested in investing funds in this ambitious project. In May 2012 Turkmenistan signed a memorandum of understanding with transit Afghanistan on TAPI. Contracts on the sale of the Turkmen gas were also signed with the State Gas Systems of Pakistan and Indian GAIL ltd. An expert group in Ashgabat has also submitted its report following the business tour conducted in the major financial centres of Asia, America and Europe, Singapore, New York and London in mid-September to attract leading international oil and gas companies and financial institutions in the consortium.
Representatives of U.S. companies Chevron, Exxon Mobil, British BP, BG Group, German RWE, Malaysian Petronas and others were familiarised with the main terms of implementing the TAPI project and expressed their intention to participate. ADB has been acting as the secretariat in the TAPI project. It previously reported that after more than 20 years of complex negotiations, a 1800-kilometre gas pipeline which will connect one of the largest energy suppliers of Central Asia – Turkmenistan with a market in South Asia was one step closer to reality. This testifies an unprecedented new chapter in regional relations. The Turkmen Dovlet Habarlary state information service said that that besides economic issues, laying the transnational gas pipeline will enable the participating countries to solve a number of important social and humanitarian issues, including those related to the creation of new jobs, the formation of the transport and communication and social infrastructure and will contribute to the maintenance and consolidation of political and social stability in the region.
