Turkmenistan: TAPI Pipeline Discussion Ends on Upbeat Note

Pakistani energy officials say they were cheered by discussion with a Turkmen official on reviving a long-planned pipeline stretching from Turkmenistan to India. The officials in Islamabad say they will be "vigorously pursuing" the proposed export route, which would pass through Pakistan.

The proposed Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project constitutes yet another option for Turkmenistan's gas exports. It is also one that is sure to increase concern in Moscow about Russia's future ability to control Turkmen exports.

Talks on March 24 in Moscow between President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev failed produce any agreement on the Prikaspiiski project. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. However, a meeting the same day between Dr. Asim Hussain, a Pakistani government adviser on petroleum and natural resources, and Sapar Berdiniyazo, Turkmen ambassador to Pakistan, was significantly more positive, Pakistani media reported March 25.

According to the Daily Times, Hussain called for TAPI's early implementation and said an upcoming meeting of the project's steering committee would "produce positive" results. The long-contemplated TAPI pipeline has an estimated cost of $7.6 billion and would have to traverse some of Afghanistan's most volatile regions. If conditions ever permit construction to move forward, the 1,680-kilometer pipeline could carry up to 50 billion cubic meters of gas annually to Afghan, Pakistani and Indian markets.