India Proposes a Pipeline from Kazakhstan

India has put forward the idea of a hydrocarbon pipeline with Kazakhstan that would bring fuel through a five-nation route.

India unveiled the concept of the pipeline, which in future could be extended to Russia, during a meeting between External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid and his visiting Kazakh counterpart Erlan Idrissov, The Hindu newspaper reported last week.

The two Ministers will revisit the idea when they will meet twice in the coming months — first on the sidelines of the Istanbul process meeting on Afghanistan in Almaty and later during a stand-alone visit by Khurshid to the Kazakh capital of Astana, the daily said.

The proposed pipeline would cover about 1,500 kms, thus making it longer than the planned Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline which will serve as the role model.

It will head from the former Silk Road caravanserai city of Shymkent, known today for oil refining, and enter Uzbekistan. From there it will go to Afghanistan and then follow the route to be taken by the TAPI pipeline into India via Pakistan, the Hindu said.