China is studying the possibility of building a branch of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline from Pakistan, Chief executive officer of the Pakistani State company “Interstate gas systems” (ISGS) Mobin Saulat said, ORIENT News agency reported, citing the firstpost publication.
In the first half of 2018, the Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan-Kazakhstan-China gas pipeline delivered 16 million 356 thousand tons of natural gas, which is 18.75% higher than the same period last year. At the same time, China’s accelerated transition from coal to gas heating increases China’s demand for “blue fuel”, and China’s representatives are looking for new ways to meet the growing demand.
The TAPI project is currently planned to be implemented in two phases. At the first stage, the pipeline will be built without compressors, which will reduce the volume of transported gas, but at the same time reduce the high costs of the project. In the second stage, 11 compressors will be installed along the pipeline, which will bring it to the designed capacity.
According to Saulat, the financing of the first stage should be summed up by the end of September, while the Asian Development Bank promises from 1 to 1.5 billion dollars, and the Islamic Development Bank provides guarantees in the amount of 1 billion dollars in loans.
