A ceremonial ceremony for the construction of infrastructure projects in Afghanistan took place in Turkmenistan. Among them is a section of the TAPI gas pipeline and a compressor station. The inauguration was carried out by the President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov and the acting President of the Afghan Government, Mullah Mohammed Hassan Akhund.
According to the state-owned Turkmengaz concern, the foundations of the Şatlyk-1 gas compressor station have been laid in Mary Velayat and construction of the Serhetabat-Herat section of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline has begun.
The pipeline section will be about 100 kilometres long, one-eighth of the entire Afghan section of TAPI. The prospects for the 1,849-kilometre pipeline are therefore still unknown.
The $10 billion pipeline is expected to supply 33 billion cubic meters of gas. Construction began in late 2015, but only the Turkmen section, which is no more than 200 kilometers long, has been completed. Turkmenistan holds 85 percent of the TAPI project, and Afghanistan, Pakistan and India each hold 5 percent. However, the main problems of the project have not yet been resolved. On the one hand, the security of the project in Afghanistan. On the other hand, the price of gas. Several years ago, Islamabad demanded that Ashgabat reconsider prices, since at that time LNG was cheaper than pipeline supply, and refused to take the risks of fuel transit through Afghanistan. Much has changed since then, but the Pakistani government’s position remains the same.
The Express Tribune noted that Turkmenistan refused to change gas prices, citing fears that it would receive similar requests from India and Afghanistan.
Russian gas supplies to the EU have sharply decreased due to sanctions and counter-sanctions, and Moscow has not ruled out Russia’s participation in the TAPI project.
“We are not yet in this project, but we do not exclude the possibility of Russia participating in it. Of course, several issues need to be resolved, including security issues in Afghanistan. But I do not see any particular difficulties here, because this issue is being discussed and we also understand that this security can be guaranteed.” — the former energy minister told PTV World in January Nikolai Shulginov.
The Taliban ruling Afghanistan* He has repeatedly stressed his desire to implement a gas pipeline project that will bring in transit revenues and has promised to ensure the project’s security.
*Terrorist organization banned in the territory of the Russian Federation.
