TEHRAN (TCA) — Iran’s deputy petroleum minister expressed doubts about the probability of completion of Turkmenistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan–India (TAPI) gas pipeline and said his country is ready to swap Turkmenistan’s gas destined for Pakistan, Iran’s IRNA news agency reported on April 29.
Hamidreza Araqi said that Iran is the best route for transferring Turkmenistan gas to Pakistan, adding that the country can carry out this process very fast.
Iran is now swapping Turkmenistan gas bound for Azerbaijan on the basis of which the country receives Turkmen gas at its border and delivers the same amount of gas to Azerbaijan.
The Turkmenistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan–India pipeline, also known as Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline, is a natural gas pipeline being developed by the Galkynysh – TAPI Pipeline Company Limited with the participation of the Asian Development Bank.
In the meantime, the independent news website Chronicles of Turkmenistan recently reported that a group of Taliban militants who surrendered to the authorities and joined the peace process in western Herat province in Afghanistan had claimed that they were directed and armed by Iran to disrupt the construction of the TAPI gas pipeline.
Swap deals are a substitution supply scheme which is used in case direct supply is not possible. In case with Iran it means that the Turkmen gas will be first supplied to Iran, which will ship similar volumes of natural gas to Pakistan. This scheme will help to avoid constructing a transit pipeline from Turkmenistan to Pakistan on the territory of Iran, Chronicles of Turkmenistan reported.
