Tapi meeting in Manila on May 30: Afghanistan, Pakistan and India may finalise gas specifications

Pakistan, India and Afghanistan are likely to finalise "gas specifications" during the upcoming meeting of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project. Other two key issues, like gas pricing formula and transit fee, would be discussed after finalisation of an agreement on gas specifications.
According to sources in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources Pakistan, India and Afghanistan are expected to negotiate finalisation of gas pricing, transit fee and gas specification with Turkmenistan during the upcoming four-day meeting to be held in Manila on May 30.
Sources said that Pakistan, India and Afghanistan, during a recent meeting held in Kabul on May 17-18 had put their differences aside over gas pricing formula and reached an understanding on paying cost of gas, including profit, as proposed by Pakistan. During that meeting, three options relating to transit fee of gas were discussed, sources added.
When contacted, Zafar Qadir, spokesman Ministry of Petroleum, said that the countries had held a two-day meeting from May 17 to 18 to finalise modalities on gas pricing issue and transit fee to import gas from Turkmenistan. He said that Pakistan is all set to get immediate finalisation on TAPI related issues only to meet the schedule in time as agreed among member countries.
A five-member Pakistan's delegation to Manila would be headed by Rashid Bashir Mazari, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources, and will include Afzal Chaudhry, Joint Secretary, Mubeen Solat, Managing Director at Inter State Gas System (ISGS), and Kamran Bahadur GM (ISGS).
Under the estimated $7.5 billion TAPI gas pipeline project, Pakistan's share will be 1.35 billion cubic feet per day (cbfd), out of total 3.2 (bcfd) gas imports. Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) and Gas Pipeline Framework Agreement (GSFA) have already been signed and the four participating countries have targeted to sign Gas Sales Purchase Agreement (GSPA) by July 31 this year.