Bangladesh shows interest in joining TAPI gas pipeline

As four nations to the TAPI gas pipeline look to sew a consortium that will build the line, Bangladesh has evinced interest in joining the multi-billion dollar project.

"There was a request from Bangladesh to join the project. We require official note for this which will be considered by all the four governments of TAPI project," Turkmenistan's Acting Minister of Oil & Gas Industry and Mineral Resources Kakageldy Abdullaev said at Petrotech 2012 Conference here.

The Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) project countries have invited firms which can become consortium leaders for executing the 1,680-km cross-country project. The pipeline length would be increased if the project is extended to Bangladesh.

Abdullaev said roadshows to attract firms that would build the project were recently held in New York, London and Singapore and there was "substantial interest" from institutional investors.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is the lead partner for the project and is helping the four nations put a credible consortium that would build and operate the line passing through volatile Afghanistan and Pakistan territories.

The TAPI pipeline would originate from Turkmenistan and pass through Afghanistan and Pakistan before entering India. It will have a capacity to carry 90 million standard cubic metres a day (mmscmd) gas for a 30-year period and will be operational in 2018.
India and Pakistan would get 38 mmscmd each, while the remaining 14 mmscmd will be supplied to Afghanistan.

The Minister said Gas Sale and Purchase Agreements (GSPA) have already been signed with Pakistan and India and the entire process of selection of the consortium leader and finding the investors is expected to take one year. The construction of the pipeline is expected to start in 2015.

Bids will now be invited to select the consortium leader who will be responsible for the design, funding, building, control and subsequent operations of the pipeline.

The US is backing the TAPI pipeline as an alternative to the Iran-Pakistan-India line in its efforts to choke Tehran financially over its suspected nuclear weapon programme.

While New Delhi had reached agreements on price and transit clauses for the IPI pipeline, TAPI is the first transnational line for which it has signed a GSPA in May this year.