TAPI Project May Get US Consortium Leader

The TAPI gas pipeline project is likely to see an America-based consortium leader, according to Indian financial daily Business Standard.

"Considering the terrorism-torn terrain of the project, we are looking for a US-based company with experience in building and operating the cross-country pipeline. Moreover, in a meeting held last month, the partners were keen to register TAPI Ltd in a place like New Jersey," an official source told the newspaper.

International firms have been reluctant to participate as a consortium leader because Turkmenistan was reluctant to give participating stakes for the companies in hydrocarbon fields.

"The consortium leader would build and operate the project, apart from arranging the funds and ensuring the delivery of gas, along with its security issues," the official source further told Business Standard.

GAIL has already struck an agreement with TurkmenGaz for importing 38 mscmd of natural gas through the pipeline for a 30-year period.

The 1,680-km pipeline will start from the South Yolotan-Osman field in Turkmenistan, passing through the troubled Herat, Helmand and Kandahar regions in Afghanistan and then via Quetta and Multan in Pakistan, ending at Fazilka (Punjab) in India.

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