Turkmenistan has signed the agreement for gas supplies to India and Pakistan
Turkmenistan has signed the agreement for gas supplies to India and Pakistan, becoming closer by a step to the creation of a transnational pipeline supported by the USA that will be laid via Afghanistan. The agreement for gas purchase and sales has been signed on Wednesday by Turkmengaz and the Indian GAIL and the Pakistani Inter State Gas Systems.
Earlier, the official Ashgabat reported that they need 1 trillion cubic m of gas for the projected TAPI pipeline and for its provision with gas for 30 years. The raw material base can be the Galkynysh deposit, the world second largest with reserves of 13.1-21.2 trillion cubic m, under the estimation of Gaffney, Cline & Associates. The total length of the pipeline is 1,735 km. The route will be laid via the Afghani cities of Gerat and Kandagar, the Pakistani cities of Quetta and Multan, and will achieve the settlement of Fazilka at the board of India and Pakistan. They await that supplies to Pakistan can start by the end of 2016, and to India by 2018.
All negotiations were based on the international agreement signed for the start of the realization of TAPI, signed in Ashgabat in December 2010. The former agreements did not contain a detailed description of the safety norms, the volumes of supplies and prices.
Turkmenistan strictly follows the policy of gas sales nearby its borders, that’s why India and Pakistan will have to independently regulate transit issues with themselves and Afghanistan. BP reports that Turkmenistan is the fourth largest state by its gas reserves.
Translated by Nadezhda Poltoratskaya
