Many Companies Interested in Building TAPI Pipeline

Various global energy companies are interested in helping the consortium that is planning to build the TAPI gas pipeline, according to U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert Blake.

"So I think those companies are now having discussions with the Government of Turkmenistan, and when those discussions are complete and decisions have been made, I'm sure the Government of Turkmenistan will communicate that," Blake said at a press conference in Ashgabat, Azer News reported.

The TAPI pipeline has a capacity of 33 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year and will extend from Galkhynysh -- the largest gas field in Turkmenistan -- through the Afghan cities of Herat and Kandahar to the final point, a settlement on the Pakistani-Indian border.

The basic document for the promotion of the TAPI project is the Ashgabat intergovernmental agreement on the start of actual implementation of the TAPI project signed in late 2010 by the four participating countries, Azer News said.

TAPI is currently at an important stage of development. Talks are underway on the establishment of the project consortium, financing and security, in particular, the security of the pipeline section crossing the troubled Afghanistan.