Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, May 18 / Trend H. Hasanov /
Indian state-controlled gas company GAIL plans to conclude a purchase-sale agreement with "Turkmengas" state concern within the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline (TAPI), the world's leading agencies said today with reference to a source in the Indian government.
It is planned to be signed on May 23-24, 2012. The Indian delegation will be headed by Indian Oil Minister Jaipal Reddy. Other participants of the project will visit Turkmenistan these days.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sent a letter to Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov in late April 2012. According to the letter, great progress was achieved in this project.
The Ashgabat interstate agreement of member stated that the practical implementation of the TAPI project signed in late 2010 is the base document to promote TAPI project. The design capacity of the pipeline is up to 33 billion cubic meters of gas per year.
Buyers are the gas companies of Pakistan and India. The project is promoted by the Asian Development Bank. The resource base in addition to the Dovletabad field is the largest field in Turkmenistan, namely the Southern Yoloten - Osman (Galkynysh). The length of the pipeline may reach 1,735 kilometres.
At present the principle of forming an international consortium is being discussed. The issue of financing the project is also being solved. Russia began to show interest in this project at a high level. Its implementation is supported by the U.S, which opposed a similar project from Iran to Pakistan.
Earlier, Pakistani media reported that the final documents on TAPI are planned to be discussed in Ashgabat on May 24, 2012.