Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, Sept. 24 / Trend H. Hasanov /
The world road-show for implementing the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline (TAPI) construction project has created interest with the leading world companies.
The show was conducted by Turkmenistan during September 9-20.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) participated, the Turkmen government said on Saturday.
Representatives of U.S. companies Chevron, Exxon Mobil, British BP, BG Group, German RWE, Malaysian Petronas and were brought up to speed with the main terms of implementing the TAPI project. They expressed their intention to participate during business networking with the members of the expert group, consisting of the appropriate managers and specialists of economic and oil and gas departments of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and ADB representatives.
'It should be stressed that besides the leading companies specialising in oil and gas, many foreign financial and banking organisations showed great interest in the largest gas pipeline project in Asia', the statement said.
A business tour for the TAPI project was held in Singapore, New York and London, the biggest business and financial centres of South-East Asia, America and Europe.
According to a government report, information about Turkmenistan's energy potential, state-run Turkmengaz, the technical parameters of the TAPI gas pipeline and commercial aspects of contracts and agreements to be concluded within the project implementation have been prepared together with the ADB.
The information on the financial and economic feasibility of the project was disseminated.
According to the government report, it is safe to assume that the current road show, conducted by the country for the first time to present such a large scale project to the world, will give a new impetus to the development of international partnership in this area and will coordinate joint plans for the near future.
The expert group will make a report to the TAPI project steering committee in the near future.
According to the report, the implementation of Turkmenistan's energy strategy based on the principles of diversification of oil and gas industry is embodied in the implementation of large scale international energy projects, including TAPI project.
It focuses on creating a multiple pipeline oriented infrastructure centred on delivering Turkmen energy resources to the world energy markets
Great work is being conducted on the initiative and under the leadership of the Turkmen president to effectively have implemented it for the past two years. A summit of the presidents and members of the above mentioned project was held in Ashgabat in December 2010. The fundamental interstate and intergovernmental agreements on the TAPI project were signed.
According to these documents, the heads and experts of oil and gas ministries of the member states held several meetings and consultations during 2011 and the first half of 2012. They worked through the legal, institutional, commercial, technical and other issues related to the practical implementation of TAPI gas pipeline construction project.
As a result, the agreements and other documents clearly regulating the issues of supply, purchase, sale and transit of Turkmen natural gas were signed during the third International Congress in May this year.