NEW DELHI (Commodity Online) : With strategic bottle-necks blocking the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline, Indian is set to sign a new pact to import gas from Turkmenistan, a country having fourth largest proven reserves in the world.
Tough conditions, including the door-step delivery responsibility for Iran to supply gas to India in the envisioned pipeline project from there through Pakistan, have been diluted in the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) project.
An international consortium will take care of the safety aspects of the 1640 km.pipeline in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Further, disruptions in the supply will not be owed to Turkmenistan and gas would be from its South Yoloten-Osman field.
The $10 billion project backed by the US, will be signed this weekend, reported Business Standard.
The four stake holders will meet in a summit on December 11 at Ashgabat to finalise the nuances of the Inter Governmental Agreement (IGA) and Gas Pipeline Framework Agreement (GPFA) for the TAPI project.
The Union Cabinet of India has given approval for both—signing of IGA and GPFA—on Wednesday, said Murli Deora, Indian minister for Petroleum.
The GPFA will lay down the terms of gas supply through the pipeline, which is expected to take five years to complete.
The signing of two agreements will be followed by deliberations on the price for the fuel.
It is known that India and Pakistan would buy 38 million cubic meters of gas per day each while Afghanistan is slated to get 14 million cubic meters.
The TAPI project conceived in 1995 was originally designed to provide gas from Turkmenistan to Pakistan through Afghanistan. In 2008, India was invited to join the project.
Pakistan Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai, and President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Mälikgulyýewiç Berdimuhamedow are expected to participate in the summit.
Murli Deora will represent India.
GAIL India, state-owned gas utility, will sign a Gas Sales and Purchase Agreement (GSPA) with national oil firm of Turkmenistan, Turkmengaz, later.
The TAPI pipeline project is supported by Asian Development Bank (ADB).
