GAIL Mulls Equity Participation in TAPI Project

GAIL (India) may take equity participation in the consortium mandated to construct the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) Gas Pipeline project.

A report in Business Line said that the road-show to invite players to participate in the project is expected to kick off in September. Energy firms like Chevron, ExxonMobil, and Gazprom too are reported to be interested.

The decision with regard to the consortium will be made jointly by member countries in consultation with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which will render technical advice with regard to the terms and conditions for potential consortium partners, Business Line said. ADB will also be involved in the final selection process.

The pipeline is expected to be operational in 2018 and supply gas over a 30-year period. The GSPA contains all the contractual terms and conditions and will be signed bilaterally between the members.

Member-countries of the TAPI project have agreed to a uniform transit fee of 49.5 cent. The transit fee paid is also for the security of the network from where the pipeline is passing.