Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, May 25
By Huseyn Hasanov– Trend:
The financial closure of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project is expected in the third quarter of 2018, a consortium company called TAPI Pipeline Company Limited, in which the controlling stake belongs to the Turkmengaz State Concern, said in a message with reference to the statement by the consortium’s CEO Muhammetmyrat Amanov.
Several meetings were held with export credit agencies (ECA), including SACE, Hermes and ECIO, which expressed strong support for the project, and are conducting their mandatory legal examination procedures. At the moment, the first financing phase has been completed and it consists of sovereign credit financing received from several ECAs, development banks and commercial banks, Amanov said.
“All of the abovementioned means that the work is on schedule, in order to start gas supply in 2019,” he noted.
All contracts for survey work have already been signed, and all of them are expected to be completed in June 2018, he added.
“Tender procedures for key components, such as large-diameter linear pipes, pipe offsets and large valves have been completed, the internal reconciliation process has been launched and it is expected that the contracts will be signed in the near future,” the message said.
The construction of the Turkmen section of the TAPI gas pipeline with a length of more than 200 kilometers was launched in December 2015. Survey work is being carried out at the Pakistani section at this stage. Construction contracts are being prepared in Afghanistan.
Being the leader of the international consortium TAPI Pipeline Company Limited, the State Concern "Turkmengas", having a controlling stake, performs the functions of the main financier and manager of the project. The consortium also includes the Afghan Gas Corporation, Pakistan’s Inter State Gas Systems (Private) Limited Company and India’s GAIL Company.
The consortium held active negotiations with all interested parties with the participation of the Asian Development Bank. Various options for participation in the project were explored, such as participation in the company's share, project financing, financing through international development banks and through export credit agencies from around the world.
The total length of the pipeline, with a capacity of 33 billion cubic meters of gas per year will be 1840 kilometers till the village of Fazilka on the border with India.
The TAPI gas pipeline will export fuel from the Galkynysh gas field in Turkmenistan, the second largest in the world.