India to get gas from Turkmenistan

New Delhi, May 17 (IANS) India will now get natural gas from the Central Asian nation of Turkmenistan after the union cabinet Thursday approved its purchase through the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline project.

The cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, approved the proposal of the ministry of petroleum and natural gas to permit GAIL (India) Ltd. to sign the gas sale and purchase agreement (GSPA) with TurrnenGas, Turkmenistan's national oil company for the TAPI project.

The TAPI project is envisaged to be 1,680-km pipeline (144 km in Turkmenistan, 735 km in Afghanistan and 800 km in Pakistan) with a capacity to carry 90 million standard cubic feet per day (MMSCMD) of gas, with 38 MMSCMD each for India and Pakistan and the remaining 14 MMSCMD for Afghanistan.

The pipeline is expected to be operational in 2017 and supply gas over a 30 years' period.

Afghanistan and Pakistan have committed to the safety and security of the pipeline through the Inter-Governmental Agreement and the Gas Purchase Framework Agreement signed among the four countries in December 2010.