ASHGABAD (Commodity Online) : India and Pakistan are likely to receive natural gas from Turkmenistan soon as Italian energy giant Eni offered assistance to the central Asian republic to this effect.

Turkmenistan’s energy ministry said, Eni has plans to create infrastructure to ship gas from Turkmenistan to India and Pakistan and is offering help in developing its hydrocarbon reserves.

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Eni Chief Executive Paolo Scaroni visited Turkmenistan on Wednesday and met Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov.

The most direct route to transport gas from Turkmenistan to the huge markets of India and Pakistan is by pipeline across Afghanistan, an idea mooted since the 1990s, but incessant insecurity there has always scuppered each successive plan.

ENI earlier said it was looking to bring gas from Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Iran to India, Pakistan and China, but stressed it was a long-term idea.

Turkmenistan has stepped up efforts to diversify gas exports this year after Russia, traditionally the main consumer, halted purchases amidst a pricing dispute.
The former Soviet republic, which is Central Asia’s largest gas producer, produces about 75 billion cubic metres of gas a year, will launch new pipelines to China and Iran in December and is also considering joining the EU-sponsored Nabucco pipeline that would bypass Russia.

Russia's Gazprom, a close partner of Eni, has criticised Nabucco as nonviable and politically-driven.