GAIL (India) Ltd. reported the establishment of a company that will build, own, and operate the 1,800-km Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) natural gas pipeline.
State gas companies from four countries own equal shares of the company, TAPI Pipeline Co. Ltd. The company has been incorporated as a Special Purpose Vehicle in the Isle of Man, a British Crown dependency, and will be responsible for finance, design, construction, operation, and maintenance of the pipeline, according to Oil & Gas Journal.
Turkmenistan's national gas company Turkmengas, Afghan Gas Enterprise, Inter State Gas Systems (Private) and GAIL will own equal stake in TAPI Pipeline Company.
The TAPI pipeline will export as much as 33 billion cubic meters per year from Turkmenistan to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India over 30 years.
TAPI will carry 90 million cubic meters per day (mcmpd), of which India and Pakistan will each receive 38 mcmpd. Afghanistan’s share is 14 mcmpd, but GAIL said Afghanistan has indicated it will be taking volumes of 1.5-4 mcmpd. Volumes not taken by Afghanistan can be equally shared between India and Pakistan.
GAIL said the landfall point of the pipeline in India will be at Fazilka, Punjab. Turkmenistan has the world's fourth-largest proven gas reserves, and the pipeline will allow the landlocked country to diversify its gas export markets to the southeast.
