TAPI gas pipeline: a dream project for Pakistan, India.

• Author: Shaikh, Khurram Adeel
• Position: Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India

Byline: Khurram Adeel Shaikh

For many Pakistanis, the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline is mere a dream. However this project is vital for Pakistan and India; as both are facing acute energy shortage crises.

Its starting point is in Turkmenistan, passes Afghanistan and then reaches to Pakistan and India. It is also known as Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline, is a natural gas pipeline being developed by the Galkynysh - TAPI Pipeline Company Limited with participation of the Asian Development Bank. The pipeline will transport natural gas from the Galkynysh Gas field in Turkmenistan through Afghanistan into Pakistan and then to India. The original project started on March 15, 1995 when an inaugural memorandum of understanding between the governments of Turkmenistan and Pakistan for a pipeline project was signed. This project was promoted by Argentinean company Bridas Corporation.

The proposed 1,814-kilometre (1,127m) pipeline will carry 33 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas a year from Galkynysh gas field. In Afghanistan, TAPI pipeline will be constructed alongside the Kandahar-Herat Highway in western Afghanistan, and then via Quetta and Multan in Pakistan. The final destination of the pipeline will be the Indian town of Fazilka, near the border between Pakistan and India. Construction on the project started in Turkmenistan on December 13, 2015. Construction on the Afghan side started on February 24, 2018, while construction on the Pakistan side is planned to start next year. Originally, the cost of the pipeline project was reportedly estimated at US$7.6 billion, but a more recent estimate was $10 billion.

The pipeline will be 1,420 millimetres (56 inch) in diameter with a working pressure of 100 standard atmospheres (10,000 kPa). The capacity will be 33 billion cubic metres (1.2 trillion cubic feet) of natural gas per year of which 5 billion cubic metres (180 billion cubic feet) will be provided to Afghanistan and 14 billion cubic metres (490 billion cubic feet) to each Pakistan and India. Six compressor stations would be constructed along the pipeline. The pipeline is expected to be operational by 2020.

Pakistan and India will each get 42 percent of that volume - the rest will be purchased by Afghanistan. The US strongly supports the pipeline plan, calling it "a transformative project for the entire region". If implemented, it will help to attract much-needed investment to Afghanistan, increasing budget revenues through...