Pak to Renegotiate TAPI Gas Price: Press

Pakistan is looking to renegotiate the price of gas with Tapi Project Company (TPCL) before it starts work on the $10bn four-nation Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (Tapi) pipeline, Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) reported November 18.

“We are keen to have a new compatible gas price under the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (Tapi) project. Accordingly, renegotiations for the gas price will take place with TPCL before the start of work on the project in Pakistan,” a senior official told APP. Earlier this year, APP has reported that groundbreaking ceremony of the Pakistan section of the Tapi pipeline project was expected to take place in Chaman in October.

The official told APP that Pakistan would complete the first phase of the project within 30 months after initiating groundwork for laying the pipeline from Chaman to Multan via Quetta and Dera Ismail Khan.

Tapi is planned to be 1,814 km long, of which 214 km will run through Turkmenistan, 774 km through Afghanistan, and 826 km through Pakistan to the border with India. Work on the Afghan section of the Tapi pipeline started in February last year, with a groundbreaking ceremony taking place in Herat city. 

The much-delayed pipeline aims to transfer 33bn m³/yr of gas from Turkmenistan’s giant Galkynysh gas field to participating countries by 2020. However, many believe the security situation in Afghanistan could yet derail the project.