UNIPATH STAFF
Turkmenistan discussed the possibility of selling electricity and natural gas to Pakistan during a 2017 meeting whose focus included construction of the continent’s biggest energy transmission project, the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline.
Developed by the Asian Development Bank, the pipeline would transport Caspian Sea natural gas from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan into Pakistan and India. The pipeline, begun in 2015, is expected to open by 2019.
With a new pipeline network, Ashgabat and Islamabad hope to reduce energy dependence on countries such as Russia, which controlled all TAPI countries’ export pipelines during the 1990s. The pipeline would also help stabilize Afghanistan by generating millions of dollars in licensing fees.
The annual capacity of the 1,814-kilometer pipeline will reach 33 billion cubic meters. Managed by Türkmengaz, the project will ultimately cost an estimated $10 billion.