Cabinet approves signing of TAPI pipeline proposal

18 May 2012 Evaluate

The Turkmenistan-Aghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline is set to become a reality as the Union Cabinet has approved the signing of the proposal.  India has also agreed to the contentious issue of paying a transit fee of $0.50 per million metric British thermal unit (mmBtu) to Pakistan and Afghanistan for allowing passage of gas through their respective territories.

The pipe line, which is expected to be functional from 2016, will pass from Turkmenistan's Yoloten-Osman gas field to Herat and Kandahar province of Afghanistan, before entering Pakistan. In Pakistan, it will pass through Quetta to reach Multan and will end at Fazilka, Punjab in India.

The cost of the transported gas has been allied with the cost of fuel oil for the natural gas which when calculated at current oil prices, amounts to a rate of $8-10 per mmBtu. For India, the price of the delivered gas is expected to be $10-12 per mmBtu. This is higher than the price of $4.20 per mmBtu price of domestic gas and lower than $16 per mmBtu rate of gas which is imported in ships in its liquid form (LNG).

The carrying capacity of the pipeline is expected to be 90 million metric standard cubic metres per day (mmscmd) of gas. Out of this Afghanistan will buy 14 mmscmd and 38 mmscmd will be for India and Pakistan each.

The United States has backed the project as an alternative to the India-Pakistan- Iran (IPI) pipeline as it is keen that India reduces its trade relations with the country given its doubtful nuclear programme. The three countries had earlier met in Islamabad to discuss the issue but the talks remained inconclusive as India had refused to pay the 50 cents per mmBtu transit fee to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Now with the issue resolved, it is expected that relations between India and Pakistan will get a new boost.

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