As Afghanistan is ready to raise special force for the project, Pakistan has shown
willingness to go ahead with Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas
pipeline project with or without India. This has been conveyed by the Minister of
State for Petroleum and Natural Resources, Musadik Malik during his recent visit to
Saudi Arabia. Further, Minister briefed the Saudi side on latest situation on TAPI
pipeline project. As Turkmenistan has been keen on moving ahead with the project
and Pakistan also wants to implement the project at the earliest, so with or without
India, Pakistan has been willing to buy India’s proposed share of gas. Considering the
security issues in Afghanistan, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Resources
acknowledged that the security and political situation in the country and adoption of
certain factors including raising stakes of the Afghans, the security problem could be
addressed. During his meeting with the Saudi Ministers of Finance, Energy, Minerals
and Industry, the Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Resources, also
proposed a new project where natural gas from Turkmenistan could be brought to
Gwadar via gas pipeline from Chaman, converted into LNG and exported. Moreover,
if Saudi Arabia joins this project, it could open up new possibilities.
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