Gail, Turkmengaz sign TAPI gas purchase pact

India and Turkmenistan today signed the Gas Sale & Purchase Agreement (GSPA) as part of the trans-national Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project.

B C Tripathi, chairman and managing director of the state-run GAIL India Ltd and TurkmenGaz chairman Baymrat Hojamuhamedov signed the agreement in the presence of S Jaipal Reddy, minister of petroleum and natural gas, at Ashgabat in Turkmenistan.

GAIL became a part of the consortium in 2008 to build the $7.6 billion TAPI gas pipeline of 1,680 km from Dauletabad gas field in Turkmenistan to India through Afghanistan and Pakistan. The consortium comprises national oil companies of the four countries (See: GAIL to join consortium building $7.6 billion TAPI gas pipeline).

Jaipal Reddy also held several meetings with the cabinet minister of Turkmenistan B Hojamohamedov, and his counterparts from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkmenistan.

''I have no doubt that decades later, when the history of this period is written, the TAPI project will stand out as a watershed development ushering in peace, prosperity and stability in this region. Let us seize this moment in history and make the TAPI Gas Pipeline a reality at the earliest, '' Reddy said.

''The economic benefits of the TAPI Gas Pipeline will be immense for our energy-starved economies,'' Reddy noted, adding that it will enhance prosperity through employment generation, and provide socio-political stabilisation in the region.