India is about to sign an agreement to buy natural gas from Turkmenistan through a pipeline passing through Afghanistan and Pakistan. This project have been backed by United Staes as an alternative to Iran-Pakistan-India line. The proposed natural gas pipeline is being developed by the Asian Development Bank. The pipeline will transport Caspian Sea natural gas from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan into Pakistan and then to India. The pipeline would carry 90 million standard cubic meters per day of gas, of which 14 mmscmd would be bought by Afghanistan. India and Pakistan would get 38 mmscmd each. New Delhi had inked agreements for the IPI line, which is shorter in length and passes through less difficult and dangerous terrains, some years back but it had been put on the backburner as US opposed to any energy deal with Iran for its alleged nuclear weapons programme.
Afghanistan and Pakistan would sign host country agreements to provide security to the pipeline. In exchange, they would get USD 0.50 per million British thermal unit as transit fee from India. The 1,680-km long pipeline is likely to be operational by 2017. India would pay a price linked to fuel oil for the Turkmenistan natural gas. The price in 2017, when the first gas is expected to flow, would be cheaper than the landed price of LNG that India buys from Qatar on a long-term contract.
IPI Pipeline (Now IP Pipeline!!)
A preliminary agreement was signed between the governments of Iran and Pakistan in 1995. This agreement foresaw construction of a pipeline from Iran to Karachi in Pakistan. Later Iran made a proposal to extend the pipeline from Pakistan into India. In February 1999, a preliminary agreement between Iran and India was signed. In 2009, India withdrew from the project over pricing and security issues, even though the real player was Indo-US nuclear deal signed in 2008. In 2010, the US asked Pakistan to abandon the pipeline project. If canceling the project, Pakistan would receive assistance from the United States for construction of a liquefied natural gas terminal and importing electricity from Tajikistan through Afghanistan. But recently it was reported that Pakistan's foreign minister, Hina Rabbani Khar had said that Islamabad will not give in to US pressures to mothball the project and will finish the huge pipeline project "at any cost" and that the project was in line with the country's national interest.
sources
1. http://news.outlookindia.com/items.aspx?artid=762914
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Afghanistan_Pipeline
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Pakistan_gas_pipeline
0 comments: