Pakistan and Turkmenistan agreed to speed up work on the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project, according to press release issued by the Ministry of Energy of Pakistan on Thursday.
The agreement was reached during a meeting of Ambassador of Turkmenistan to Pakistan Atajan Movlamov with Pakistan’s Interim Federal Minister for Energy Muhammad Ali on Thursday.
The Minister stated that the TAPI gas pipeline project is critical to meeting Pakistan’s expanding energy needs.
“Progress on this project is in the right direction and will bear fruit. In this context, host government agreement (HGA) is expected to be concluded, with mutual consensus, in October,” Muhammad Ali stated.
The Minister added that frequent meetings of the working group on the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (TAP) electricity project would also be held to expedite the project.
The pipeline will link Turkmenistan through Afghanistan to Pakistan and India, and is expected to carry 33 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas each year along a route stretching 1,800 km from Galkynysh, the world's second-biggest gas field, to the Indian city of Fazilka near the Pakistan border.