TAPI pipeline meeting in Turkmenistan today

ASHGABAT: A delegation led by Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Petroleum Nadeem Babar departed for Ashgabat, Turkmenistan on Sunday to participate in the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline meeting.

The groundbreaking of the TAPI gas pipeline will be held in Pakistan in October, according to sources. The Pakistani delegation is travelling to Turkmenistan to finalise the plans for the groundbreaking of the project. The TAPI gas pipeline project is expected to be completed by 2022 in Pakistan. Once completed; Pakistan is expected to receive 1.320 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas. The TAPI project, supported by the United States and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), has been touted by Turkmenistan since the 1990s. But the start of work was delayed because of the problem of crossing Afghanistan.