Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan. 31 / Trend A. Taghiyeva /
Turkey intends to play its part in the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project (TAPI), Turkish Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan told media today, Cihan agency reported.
"Turkey and Turkmenistan intend to expand cooperation in the energy sector," he said. "In particular, Turkey intends to participate in the TAPI project." The minister said his country will expand the work to explore new gas fields in Turkmenistan.
Afghan, Turkmen and, Pakistani presidents and the Indian Oil and Gas Minister signed the intergovernmental agreement on the construction of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline on December 11, 2010, which will pass through all four countries.
Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhammadov promised that as a supplier of natural gas, Turkmenistan will ensure the increasing long-term needs of Indian and Pakistani economies.
Agreements on the TAPI project will last more than 15 years. The cost is estimated at $4-7 billion. Its length will travel nearly 1700 kilometres. About 830 kilometres of the pipeline must pass through Afghanistan and 400 kilometres over Pakistan.
It is planned to deliver gas from the Dovletabad field (Turkmenistan) which has reserves estimated at 1.7-4.5 trillion cubic metres. The pipeline capacity will reach up to 30 billion cubic metres.
Turkmenistan ranks fourth on natural gas reserves in the world after Russia, Iran and Qatar. The British company Gaffney, Cline & Associates experts said that only one Turkmen field Southern Yoloten-Osman (Galkynysh) has reserves of 4-14 trillion cubic metres of gas. It ranks fourth in the world.
Moreover, Turkmenistan has large gas reserves in other fields. As of 2010, the Turkmengas state concern developed about 30 gas and gas condensate deposits. The exploitation well fund reached 1000 units.