Ministers of 4 countries sign agrmnt on TAPI gas pipeline.

ASHGABAT, September 21 (Itar-Tass) - Energy and fuel ministers of four
countries - Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India - have signed a
framework agreement on building the TAPI natural gas pipeline, the
Turkmenistani government press service says.
The document was signed Monday upon the results of the 11th meeting of
the TAPI pipeline steering committee.
The participants also put their signatures under a protocol on
amendments to the sales/purchase contract and a draft intergovernmental
agreement on the implementation of the TAPI project.
Also, the meeting endorsed a schedule of regular meetings of the
technical working group and the steering committee in October and November
when the final versions of the agreement are to be drafted.
These versions will be presented at a summit conference of the four
countries, due to be held in Turkmenistan in December.
Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India started talks on the $
7.6 billion pipeline fifteen years ago. It will stretch across a distance
of 1,680 kilometers from the Dovletabad gas deposits in Turkmenistan to
the town of Fazilka in India on the border with Pakistan.
The throughput capacity of the pipe is due to stand at 33 billion
cubic meters a year.
The Dovletabad gas fields that also provide the bulk of Turkmenistan's
gas for supplies to Russia and Iran have so far been considered as the
major resource of fuel for TAPI but resources of another large field,
Southern Iolotan were placed on offer at the session of the project's
steering committee.