Turkmenistan to sign agrmnt on NG supplies to Pakistan, India.

13/8 Tass 79

ASHGABAT, August 13 (Itar-Tass) - An agreement on gas deliveries via
the future gas pipeline Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI)
will be signed before the end of the year, national media outlets report
on Friday.
Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov gave instructions to the
government at a session on Thursday devoted to the results of activity of
the oil and gas sector in January-July.
"It is necessary to take all necessary measures in order to sign
already this year a treaty on 'buy & sell' of natural gas within the
framework of the TAPI project," the Turkmen president said.
"The gas transmission main TAPI is designed to not only ensure
long-term deliveries of natural gas from Turkmenistan to biggest countries
of South Asia, where a stable growth of demand for energy resources is
seen, but also to become a powerful stimulus for future social and
economic development of the whole region," the president noted.
The agreement on 'buy & sell' of gas is a starting point for the
decision on the launch of the pipeline construction. The process of
negotiations on the project of the trans-Afghan gas pipeline has continued
for already over 15 years.
The Asian Development Bank financed in 2005 the feasibility study of
the project, in accordance with which the gas pipeline will be 1,680
kilometres long. It will begin at the Dovletabad gas field in Turkmenistan
and will run to the settlement of Fazilka in India on the border with
Pakistan. The cost of construction is estimated at 3.3 billion dollars,
while the capacity - at 33 billion cubic meters of gas a year.
A steering committee at the level of heads of fuel and energy sectors
was set up to develop the project. Its latest, tenth, session took place
in 2008.
-0-zhe/kud