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Turkmenistan, Afghanistan sign gas deal over TAPI gas pipeline

The creation of the consortium TAPI Ltd will be a next stage
Photo ITAR-TASS
Photo ITAR-TASS

ASHGABAT, July 10 (Itar-Tass) - The CEOs of the Turkmen state-run concern Turkmengaz and the Afghan gas corporation signed a gas sale-purchase agreement on Tuesday.

The signing ceremony was held at the opening of a meeting of the governing committee over the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India main gas pipeline project. The chiefs of the specific ministries and agencies of all signatory nations of the initiative, as well as the Asian Bank of Development, which is a sponsor of the project, came for the meeting.

All three countries - Afghanistan, Pakistan and India - became official buyers of Turkmen gas. In May 2012 the Pakistani company Inter State Gas System Limited and the Indian company GAIL Limited signed the relevant agreements with the Turkmen gas concern.

The creation of the consortium TAPI Ltd will be a next stage, the participants in the meeting noted. The committee’s meeting has taken the decisions to draft constituent documents and register the consortium.

The question to speed up the development of the project was particularly discussed at a meeting between Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and Indian Minister of Petroleum and Gas Veerappa Moily.

“The construction of the gas pipeline TAPI will ensure long-term supplies of Turkmen gas in the countries of Southeast Asia in the near future,” the Turkmen president noted. In his words, “The Turkmen energy strategy is aimed at the creation of a multi-variant system of supplies of the energy resources on the largest world markets.”

The basic document to implement the project is the Ashgabat interstate agreement between the countries, which participate in the project, at the end of 2010.

The construction is planned to complete in 2018. Turkmenistan proposes to deliver 33 billion cubic metres of gas annually. Ashgabat supplies the natural gas to China, Russia and Iran.