Gas pipeline project Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India approved
The participants of the regional conference held in New Delhi supported the project for constructing a gas pipeline
between Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India (TAPI).
Afghanistan's Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar urged Islamabad to give his country a transport transit through the
territory of Pakistan to India.
"We hope that Pakistan will open its territory for an international pipeline to India as soon as possible, so that we
can strengthen cooperation in the region and implement recommendations of the conference," he said.
According to the minister, it would allow Afghanistan to realize its potential as an "energy bridge between Central
and Southeast Asia". The two-day forum in the Indian capital was attended by officials from 18 countries, including
Russia and about 10 international organizations. The delegation of Afghanistan was headed by Afghan President Hamid
Karzai.
In 2005, Asian Development Bank submitted to the ministers of oil and gas industry and mineral resources of
Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India the final version of feasibility study of the Trans-Afghan gas pipeline
designed by British company Penspen.
The pipes will be 1,420 mm in diameter and will transport gas at a working pressure of 100 atmospheres. It will have
a capacity of 33 bn cm of natural gas per year. The 1,680 km pipeline will cost an estimated $ 3.3 bn (EUR 2.5
bn).
TAPI will run from the Dovetabat gas deposit in Turkmenistan to the Indian town of Fazilka, near the border between
Pakistan and India. Six compressor stations are to be constructed along the pipeline.