Fighter488
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CHANGING STANCE
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: The government on Tuesday cleared the way for India joining later this week a US-backed project, which may cost over $10 billion, for wheeling gas from Turkmenistan via Afghanistan and Pakistan. New Delhi will, however, join the project - commonly known as TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) pipeline - after diluting its security concerns over any energy lifeline passing through Pakistan.
India has agreed to accept gas at the Turkman-Afghanistan border and will bank on the international composition of the consortium building the pipeline to ensure supply security through Afghanistan and Pakistan. MEA officials attribute this to India's commitment to ongoing reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan. But there is no denying that the softer security stand is being taken in deference to the US backing for the project, which Washington wants as an alternative route for Central Asian gas bypassing the Russian pipelines network.
In case of the Iran pipeline project, which is cheaper and easier to build, India has been playing hardball over the same issues and insisting Teheran delivers gas at New Delhi's gates. India also appears to be playing along Turkmenistan's unwillingness to make up for any shortfall or disruption in gas supplies. Oil minister Murli Deora will represent PM Manmohan Singh, who will be away in Europe, at the signing of the Inter Government Agreement and Gas Pipeline Framework Agreement for the Turkman project at a summit meeting at Ashgabat on December 11.
The GPFA would lay down terms of transporting gas through the pipeline that may take up to five years to build. The agreements will be followed by negotiations on the price of gas and other commercial terms. Deora said, the four nations would commit to providing government support including security of the 1,700-km pipeline. India and Pakistan will import 38 mcmd (mcm per day) of gas each from Turkmenistan, while Afghanistan will get 14 mcmd.
ToI feed dated 09 Dec 2010.
Fighter
India dilutes stand to join pipeline via Pak
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: The government on Tuesday cleared the way for India joining later this week a US-backed project, which may cost over $10 billion, for wheeling gas from Turkmenistan via Afghanistan and Pakistan. New Delhi will, however, join the project - commonly known as TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) pipeline - after diluting its security concerns over any energy lifeline passing through Pakistan.
India has agreed to accept gas at the Turkman-Afghanistan border and will bank on the international composition of the consortium building the pipeline to ensure supply security through Afghanistan and Pakistan. MEA officials attribute this to India's commitment to ongoing reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan. But there is no denying that the softer security stand is being taken in deference to the US backing for the project, which Washington wants as an alternative route for Central Asian gas bypassing the Russian pipelines network.
In case of the Iran pipeline project, which is cheaper and easier to build, India has been playing hardball over the same issues and insisting Teheran delivers gas at New Delhi's gates. India also appears to be playing along Turkmenistan's unwillingness to make up for any shortfall or disruption in gas supplies. Oil minister Murli Deora will represent PM Manmohan Singh, who will be away in Europe, at the signing of the Inter Government Agreement and Gas Pipeline Framework Agreement for the Turkman project at a summit meeting at Ashgabat on December 11.
The GPFA would lay down terms of transporting gas through the pipeline that may take up to five years to build. The agreements will be followed by negotiations on the price of gas and other commercial terms. Deora said, the four nations would commit to providing government support including security of the 1,700-km pipeline. India and Pakistan will import 38 mcmd (mcm per day) of gas each from Turkmenistan, while Afghanistan will get 14 mcmd.
ToI feed dated 09 Dec 2010.
Fighter
