Dr Asim Hussain, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources visited Ashgabat, Turkmenistan recently to attend the steering committee meeting of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India (TAPI) gas pipeline project. The meeting was chaired by the Deputy Chairman of The Cabinet of Turkmenistan, Baymyrat Hojamuhammedov. Delegations from Pakistan, India, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan were present and the Asian Development Bank which is the secretariat of the project, was also present in the meeting.
The ADB representative briefed the delegates on the positive outcome of the Road Shows held in Singapore, New York and London. The Road Shows were conducted in these cities jointly by the teams from TAPI member states and ADB from September 11-20, 2012, to invite an expression of interest from various international companies and financial institutions to invest and work in the project. The steering committee discussed various steps to carry forward the progress made in the Road Shows and issues related to the formation of consortium.
This would be done after formal approvals of the respective governments. It was further decided that the ADB would be appointed as transaction advisor for the project. Turkmenistan also agreed that it would allow a swap of already producing offshore gas fields in the Caspian Sea to further advance and commit the gas flow date. This has generated a lot of confidence of the offtake countries in this project.
Asim Hussain while addressing the meeting expressed the confidence that the TAPI gas pipeline project will bring economic progress and prosperity in the region and hoped for its early implementation in accordance with the time schedule agreed by the member states. This has further enhanced international commitment in this project. -PR