TAPI Pipeline Deal Signed

Turkmenistan on Wednesday signed an agreement for the sale and purchase of natural gas as part of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline project. 

Country’s state gas company Turkmengaz signed gas sales and purchase agreements with Pakistan's Inter State Gas Systems and Indian state-run utility GAIL.

The TAPI gas pipeline will supply gas via a 1,735 km pipeline from Turkmenistan into Afghanistan and finally via Pakistan to India. The pipeline is expected to be complete by 2016. The pipeline's capacity will stand at 90 million cubic meters of gas a day.

A gas sales and purchase agreement between Afghanistan and Turkmenistan is expected to be finalized shortly, according to a statement issued by the Asian Development Bank. The Manila-based bank is funding a small part of the project and helped broker the deal.