Turkmenistan agrees to sell gas to India and Pakistan
After nearly 10 years of negotiations, Turkmenistan has signed a deal to supply India and Pakistan with gas.
Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan Photo: REX
The deal means construction can start on one of the longest and most ambitious
pipelines ever planned, stretching more than 1,000 miles from Turkmenistan
in former Soviet Central Asia across Afghanistan to Pakistan and India.
At a ceremony on Wednesday in the Turkmen Caspian Sea resort of Avaza,
Baimurad Hojamukhamedov, the Turkmen deputy prime minister, said this was an
important day for the region’s development.
“The implementation of this project will give a powerful impetus to the social
and economic development of all the participant countries,” Reuters news
agency quoted him as saying.
While politicians have talked up the potential benefits to the regional
economy of the pipeline, the obstacles are very evident.
The middle section of the pipeline, dubbed Tapi after its route, runs through
Afghanistan which has been ravished by war and chronic under investment for
decades. Analysts warned that building a pipeline through Afghanistan was a
hugely ambitious undertaking.
“With the Western troops' pullout by 2014 from the still volatile Afghanistan
building an expensive pipeline in country with very weak central government
seems almost unattainable,” said Lilit Gevorgyan, the Russia/ CIS Country
Analyst at IHS Global Insight.
At its peak, the pipeline will pump 33 billion cubic metres of gas a year to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.
The deal is also significant for Turkmenistan which continues to cement its position as one of Asia’s most important gas exporters.
Over the past few years, the Turkmen government has signed large gas supply deals with China and has been courted by the European Union which wants Turkmenistan to pump gas through a proposed energy corridor from the Caspian Sea to central Europe.
While Turkmenistan has positioned itself as one of the region’s most important energy exporters, Pakistan and India are net importers.
A version of the Tapi project was first proposed a decade ago, but rows over the projects feasibility, war in Afghanistan and the price of gas had delayed a final deal.
Now that a gas deal has been signed, construction can begin on the pipeline which, according to Reuters, analysts have estimated will cost between £6.4 billion to £7.5 billion.
At its peak, the pipeline will pump 33 billion cubic metres of gas a year to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.
The deal is also significant for Turkmenistan which continues to cement its position as one of Asia’s most important gas exporters.
Over the past few years, the Turkmen government has signed large gas supply deals with China and has been courted by the European Union which wants Turkmenistan to pump gas through a proposed energy corridor from the Caspian Sea to central Europe.
While Turkmenistan has positioned itself as one of the region’s most important energy exporters, Pakistan and India are net importers.
A version of the Tapi project was first proposed a decade ago, but rows over the projects feasibility, war in Afghanistan and the price of gas had delayed a final deal.
Now that a gas deal has been signed, construction can begin on the pipeline which, according to Reuters, analysts have estimated will cost between £6.4 billion to £7.5 billion.
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