Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India are scheduled to sign a landmark agreement for a multi-billion gas pipeline project in Ashgabat on September 20, Pakistan's Petroleum Ministry said on Friday. The pact will be signed by the Petroleum Ministers of the four countries at Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, the Press Trust of India (PTI) reported. Petroleum and Natural Resources Minister Syed Naveed Qamar will represent Pakistan at the signing ceremony of the Gas Pipeline Framework Agreement (GPFA) for the TAPI gas pipeline, a statement issued by the ministry said. The TAPI project is meant to bring natural gas from Turkmenistan to Pakistan and India via Afghanistan. The heads of state of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan signed an inter-governmental agreement (IGA) for joint oil and gas pipeline projects between the three countries in 2002. India joined the project in 2008 and a revised GPFA was initialed for the induction of India, thus changing the name of the project from TAP to TAPI. An ADB sponsored pre-feasibility study, conducted in 2004, indicated that the 1680-km pipeline project was economically and financially viable. It estimated the cost at $3.3 billion though the figure was revised to $7.6 billion in 2008. The pipeline would be designed to carry 3.2 BCFD gas from Turkmenistan, delivering 0.5 BCFD to Afghanistan and 1.35 BCFD each to Pakistan and India. The proposed signing of the GPFA would be a landmark achievement as the project has seen no progress since 2008, Pakistan's Petroleum Ministry said.
