TAPI Technical Advisory Service Agreement (TASA) Signed by Member States

November 25, 2013

Kabul- Representatives of the member states of the TAPI gas pipeline including Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India has signed the technical advisory service agreement (TASA) in Ashkhabad during the 24th technical meeting of the TAPI which was held in the Ministry of Oil and Gas of Turkmenistan from 20 to 21st November.

Afghanistan was represented by Mr. Nasir Ahmad Durani, deputy minister of mines and petroleum and a representative from Afghanistan embassy in Ashkhabad. Mr. Durani expressed his satisfaction for the implementation progress of the TAPI project and appreciated the Asian Development Bank’s role as the technical facilitator of the project. He highlighted that Afghanistan is committed to support the implementation of the project.

Parties also agreed to authorize the Asian Development Bank to continue its work as the secretariat of the project. Secretariat also promised to prepare all the required documents for the ‘operations agreement’ by 29th November and invite all parties to sign it in one of the member states after their approval. Signing of the TAPI ‘operations agreement’ is one of the greatest steps towards implementation of the project.

Member states agreed that in case of inquiry for additional gas by any of the buying countries (Afghanistan, Pakistan or India), they should inform the selling state (Turkmenistan) 48 hours in advance so that Turkmenistan can arrange the requirements. During the meeting, specifications and quantity of the gas such as amount of sulfur and other chemical contents were also discussed.

Meanwhile, in a separate meeting, Pakistan and Turkmenistan discussed the quantity of the gas in the GSPA agreement on 20th November. Turkmenistan promised to send the final list of the consortium to the member states by December 2013.