Monday, May 07, 2012 -
The four TAPI natural gas pipeline partners will sign a pricing deal at a meeting scheduled for May 23 in Turkmenistan, Pakistan’s press reported over the weekend.
That date was set following the green light given by Pakistan’s Economic Coordination Committee to ink the Gas Sales Purchase Agreement (GSPA) that links gas volumes with prices and transit fees.
Representatives of the four partner-countries of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) project will gather then to kick off three days of talks in the Turkmen capital Ashgabat on next steps in the project.
Gas supplier Turkmenistan has already finalized the GSPA with buyers India and Pakistan. Afghanistan, which had earlier agreed to purchase Turkmen gas, is currently in talks with Ashgabat.
The Kabul government recently stated it no longer wanted gas from Turkmenistan, but would instead charge the transit fee only.
The TAPI pipeline is to begin at massive gas resources in central Turkmenistan and wind more than 1,000 miles across Afghanistan to Pakistan and on to India.
“Now, Afghanistan is negotiating a GSPA with Turkmenistan, and the situation will become clear within the next few days,” Islamabad-based The Express Tribune news agency cited an official as saying.