India signs pact for TAPI gas pipeline project

24 May 2012 Evaluate

India has signed a pact for the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) Gas Pipeline Project. The two companies - GAIL from India and TurkmenGaz, Turkmenistan’s national oil company have signed the gas sale and purchase agreement (GSPA) for the same.

The 1,680 km pipeline will start from Turkmenistan and pass from Afghanistan and Pakistan before ending in India. It will have the capacity to carry 90 mmscmd of gas, with 38 mmscmd each for India and Pakistan and the remaining 14 mmscmd for Afghanistan. It is expected that the project will be complete by 2018 and will supply gas for a period of 30 years. The project is in lieu of the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) pipeline project which was opposed by the US due to the involvement of Iran. The TAPI project on the other hand has the support of America.

The contentious issue of payment of transit fee has also been sorted out and it has been decided that member countries will pay a transit fee of 50 cents. The final transportation charges will be decided once the project is completed. The issue of transit fee is contentious because the country which is at the end tends to pay the highest amount. However in this case it has been decided that India and Pakistan will pay the same amount.

The delivered price of gas on the Indian border 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 gas for the pipeline is being sourced from South Yoiotan Osman field which is believed to hold proven recoverable gas reserves of 16 trillion cubic meters.

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