Uzbekistan has declared its intention to join the so-called TAPI project to build a gas export pipeline from Turkmenistan across Afghanistan and Pakistan to India, writes Vladimir Afanasiev.

The announcement came after talks in Tashkent between President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and his Turkmenistan counterpart Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov earlier this week,

The executive chairman of state oil and gas producer Uzbekneftegaz, Alisher Sultanov, said that the presidents have decided to form a joint working group to study “options for Uzbekistan’s participation in the project”.

Uzbekistan is the second-largest gas producer in the Central Asian region after Turkmenistan, which has been the key driving force behind TAPI as Berdymukhamedov sees the project as a means to diversify his country’s gas export routes, which are today locked in to Russia and China.

The TAPI pipeline is due to carry 33 billion cubic metres of gas from the Galkynysh group of prolific fields in the south-east of Uzbekistan to markets in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.

As Turkmenistan has only outbound gas pipelines, Uzbekistan could potentially supply gas into TAPI via a swap arrangement with Turkmenistan. The country has the ability to send its own gas on behalf of Turkmenistan to China via an existing line, while Turkmenistan could deliver a higher volume of gas into TAPI once the export pipeline is operational, according to industry observers.

Weekly

Uzbekistan to join TAPI gas export group