Pakistan reiterates commitment to TAPI; expects gas supplies by 2020
Pakistan has reiterated solid commitment to TAPI, the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project. Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, the minister of petroleum and natural resources of Pakistan told journalists this week that Pakistan expects to start receiving Turkmen gas from TAPI by 2020. He added that Pakistan had provided guarantee worth about USD 3.2 billion for the TAPI project. The construction work on TAPI inside the territory of Turkmenistan is already in the advanced stage. The segments of TAPI in Afghanistan and Pakistan are expected to be completed by December 2019. The sitting government in Pakistan was dissolved on 28 July 2017 after a decision by the Supreme Court disqualifying Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. However, analysts well-versed with ground situation in Pakistan told Orient that it will not have any negative effect on TAPI or any other projects of cross-border nature. The analysts said that during the past 20 years the governments in Pakistan have alternated between centre-left and centre-right several times but each government kept its focus on TAPI, CASA 1000, trade and transit corridors and other regional projects of economic and social importance. The analysts were of the view that the next government, which will be formed within 45 days, will still be run by the political party of Nawaz Sharif and the next parliamentary elections in 2018 are likely to bring in the government that will maintain the present focus in all the regional projects. While TAPI is sure to open alternative export route for the Turkmen gas, it will be a useful source for the energy-hungry economies of Pakistan and India. Another advantage, being considered by the experts, is that the Gawadar Port of Pakistan offers open access to the warm waters of the Indian Ocean. This creates the possibility of transporting the surplus Turkmen gas to the port from where it can be exported either in LNG form or by conversion to polymer products for which demand is steadily rising in the international markets.
