Bangladesh Asked to Send Formal Request to Join TAPI Project

Bangladesh has moved closer to joining Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India (TAPI) gas pipeline project as Asian Development Bank (ADB) has asked the economic relations division of Bangladesh’s finance ministry to submit a formal request.

The TAPI steering committee, at its meeting on May 23, had discussed Bangladesh’s request for inclusion into the pipeline project. The ADB has requested Bangladesh to submit the request by July 15.

Bangladesh is facing severe energy shortage which has affected power generation, pushing the government to take up costly rental power plant projects as quick solutions.

TAPI would be more feasible for Bangladesh if it is ascertained that the gas imported from Turkmenistan is cheaper than the LNG import from Middle East.

In May, Turkmenistan on signed an agreement for the sale and purchase of natural gas as part of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline project. Country’s state gas company Turkmengaz signed gas sales and purchase agreements with Pakistan's Inter State Gas Systems and Indian state-run utility GAIL.

The TAPI gas pipeline will supply gas via a 1,735 km pipeline from Turkmenistan into Afghanistan and finally via Pakistan to India. The pipeline is expected to be complete by 2016. The pipeline's capacity will stand at 90 million cubic meters of gas a day.