The TAPI gas pipeline

India and three other countries, planning a $10-billion energy lifeline across Central and South Asia, on Thursday broadly agreed on the parameters of pricing gas that is to be wheeled from Turkmenistan even though certain issues still need to be resolved. The energy ministers of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, India and Pakistan met to discuss issues regarding sale and purchase of gas through TAPI — the acronym for the pipeline — that will link the four countries. Jaipal Reddy sidestepped a question on the security of pipeline stretch passing through Pakistan and Afghanistan. “Let’s not raise our domestic debate,” he said when asked why India’s views on the security issue was different for the pipeline from Turkmenistan and a similar project from Iran. For the TAPI pipeline, India has agreed to take responsibility of gas at the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan border. But, it insists Teheran take responsibility for delivering gas through Pakistan to the Indian border in the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline. Besides the security issue, there are essentially two commercial issues that need to be sorted out – transit fee to be charged by Afghanistan and Pakistan and the final price of gas. Turkmenistan has proposed that supplies be benchmarked to LNG ( gas in ships) that costs more than natural gas. India and Pakistan are opposed to this and have suggested a common price. The ministers will meet in Kabul next month to iron out the issue of transit and other fees after which a price will be discussed in June at Ashkabat, capital of Turkmenistan. The four countries have set a deadline of July 31 for signing the GSPA. India and Pakistan are expected to import 38 mcmd (million cubic metres per day) of gas each from Turkmenistan’s South Yoloten-Osman field through the 1,700-km-long pipeline, while Afghanistan is to consume 14 mcmd. TAPI is a key part of Washington's Afghan policy and also a strategy to break the Russian infrastructure’s monopoly on transportation of Central Asian gas by opening alternative routes. It is also being promoted as an alternative to the Iran pipeline as a source of energy for both India and Pakistan.