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Pakistan signs MoU for Turkmenistan gas

B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD: As per a new deal Turkmenistan would supply 3.2 billion cubic feet gas per day to Pakistan for a period of 30 years.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the deal was signed here on Wednesday at the conclusion of a two day Ministerial meeting of Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (TAP) held in Ashgabat from February 14-15.

An official statement said here on Thursday that Turkmenistan Minister for Oil and Gas Mr. Gurbanmurat Atayev, Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Mr. Amanullah Khan Jadoon, and Minister for Mines and Industries of Afghanistan Mir Mohammad Siddique represented their respective country's delegation at the talks.

Mr. Dinsha J. Patel, Minister of State for petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India, attended the meeting as an observer while Mr. Dan Millison Energy Specialist represented the Asian Development Bank. The two-day meeting deliberated upon the key issues of gas availability, security, route, pipeline structure, gas pricing and financial aspects of the project. The statement said Indian side expressed its willingness to joint the TAP.

It said the meeting expressed satisfaction over the pace of progress on the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (TAP) project and agreed to adopt strategy to implement the project as early as possible for the benefit of the member states and the region as well. The meeting considered the feasibility report presented by the Asian Development Bank.

It was agreed to hold a technical experts meeting followed by TAP Ministerial meeting in Islamabad in April to ink the gas pricing agreement.

While commenting on the deliberation, the Federal Minister for Petroleum & Natural Resources Mr. Amanullah Khan Jadoon said that this project would not only open up avenues of cooperation in the oil and gas sector between the member states but also help bring the people of regional countries closer.

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