Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, Dec. 7 / Trend H. Hasanov /
The Ashgabat summit among the heads of member states of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project in December 2010 should be held with the "utmost effectiveness," an official Turkmen source quoted the Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhammadov as saying.
According to the source, a technical meeting will be held on the eve of the summit in Ashgabat with the participation of the Asian Development Bank's (ADB) representatives and experts from four countries.
The Turkmen leader said at a recent governmental meeting that "it is necessary to examine all issues in detail to hold the forthcoming meeting with the utmost effectiveness and to make this meeting a new step in accelerating the construction of the pipeline, which is designed not only to strengthen regional energy security, but also to become a powerful factor of economic and social stability in the Asian region."
The president demanded from top managers of the country's fuel and energy complex "to fully use all opportunities to deepen and expand international partnership in the gas sphere." Roughly one month ago, a draft intergovernmental agreement was signed in Ashgabat, which, along with a sales contract, is expected to be signed at the summit.
Ashgabat hopes to include "Southern Yoloten-Osman" in addition to the Dovletabad Field in the project. Its reserves, according to recent data, are estimated at 21 trillion cubic meters of gas, and will serve as the resource base for TAPI.
According to a previously prepared feasibility study, the pipeline's capacity will reach more than 30 billion cubic meters of gas per year. Recently, it was reported that the final buyers in Southeast Asia, including Pakistan and India, have expressed an interest in acquiring much larger volumes in the long term.