Mary, Turkmenistan, Dec. 13
By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:
Turkmenistan has started construction of Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline, one of the largest gas pipelines of the continent, Trend's special correspondent in Turkmenistan reported.
The pipeline will make it possible to supply gas from Turkmenistan, which ranks fourth on gas reserves in the world, to fast-growing markets of the south and south-east Asia.
President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhammadov, President of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Vice President of India Mohammad Hamid Ansari took part in the solemn ceremony of laying of the Turkmen section of the pipeline.
It was previously reported that the construction of the Turkmen section of the TAPI pipeline will take 3 years.
It is planned that the total length of the TAPI pipeline will be 1,814 kilometers, including 214 kilometers in Turkmenistan. The pipeline will run from Galkynysh field in Turkmenistan, which is the second largest gas field in the world up to Fazilka settlement on the border of Pakistan and India.
The annual capacity of the gas pipeline will be 33 billion cubic meters. The gas pipeline is to stretch from the largest Galkynysh gas field in Turkmenistan. The estimated cost of the project will be up to $10 billion.
The basic document for the promotion of TAPI is the Ashgabat interstate agreement signed between the participating states in 2010 on starting the practical implementation of this project Turkmengaz State Concern, Afghan Gas Corporation, Pakistan's "Inter State Gas Systems (Private) Limited" and Indian "GAIL (India) Limited" established TAPI Ltd. consortium in November 2014. It will be engaged in construction and subsequent operation of the TAPI gas pipeline. Turkmenistan's Turkmengaz state concern was selected the consortium's leader.
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