Turkmenistan's national gas company TurkmenGaz has agreed to acquire a 51% stake in the proposed $10bn Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) natural gas pipeline project.
StateTAPI is a consortium formed by the state-owned gas companies of the four countries to manage the project.
Other partners in the project include Afghan Gas Enterprise, Pakistan-based Inter State Gas Systems and Gail (India).
The consortium leader is expected to be selected in September and construction on the project would begin in December.
The 1,735km TAPI pipeline is designed to export around 33 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas annually from Turkmenistan’s Dauletabad and Galkynysh gas fields to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India.
Turkmenistan is estimated to host fourth-largest natural gas reserves in the world.
Inter State Gas systems head Mobin Saulat was quoted by Reuters as saying that TurkmenGaz is also negotiating with two other companies to purchase stakes in the consortium to lead the project.
The company intends to take up the construction and commissioning activities for the pipeline project.
The project has earlier attracted oil giants, including Chevron, Exxon, BP and Total; however, the talks fell apart over complex geopolitics and contract disagreements in the region.
Planned to be commissioned in 2018, the pipeline is expected to transport 90 million standard cubic meters a day (mmscmd) of gas.
Image: TAPI is expected to export around 33 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas a year. Photo: courtesy of Supakitmod / FreeDigitalPhotos.net.