Uzbekistan Mulls Joining TAPI

Uzbekistan is considering joining the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (Tapi) natural gas pipeline project, the head of the country national natural gas company Uzbekneftegaz said June 15.

The project is a great opportunity to increase exports of natural gas from Uzbekistan and diversify export routes, Uzbekneftegaz president Alisher Sultanov told reporters at the International Press Club in Tashkent. However, there is no decision yet whether Uzbekistan will participate in this project or not, he added. "Turkmenistan offered for us to take part in Tapi," he said. “The president of the country [Uzbekistan] instructed Uzbekneftegaz to study this issue.”

The invitation to join the project was extended to Uzbekistan's president Shavkat Mirziyoyev during his visit to Turkmenistan in March. Uzbekistan did not apply to join Tapi before the invitation, Sultanov said.

Originating in Turkmenistan's Dawlatabad region the $10bn TAPI will supply some 33bn m³/yr to the regional countries. The total length of Tapil will be 1,814 km, of which 214 km run through Turkmenistan, 774 km through Afghanistan and 826 km through Pakistan. There are doubts that the line will be built, owing to security risks in Afghanistan.

Construction of the Turkmen section of Tapi started in 2015 and is scheduled to be completed in 2019. At the moment Uzbekistan's main export market for gas is China. The output from fields operated by Lukoil flows into major pipelines that mostly carry gas produced in Turkmenistan.

Kama Mustafayeva