Islamabad: Pakistan is making renewed efforts to accelerate progress on gas and power projects to meet the growing needs of consumers and industries.
Pakistan’s Energy Minister Hammad Azhar discussed the technical aspects and way forward on two multi-billion-dollar projects in detailed talks with the high-level delegation from Turkmenistan led by Deputy Foreign Minister Vepa Hajiyev. The two projects are Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline and Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (TAP) power transmission line. Minister Azhar reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to the TAPI and stressed the need to expedite the project to address the country’s urgent need for additional supplies of natural gas.
Gas projects
TAPI with Turkmenistan and Pakistan Stream gas pipeline project with Russia are extremely significant for the country as natural gas is rapidly depleting in Pakistan by 9 per cent annually. Pakistan will also get 3 million tonnes of LNG yearly from Qatar from January 2022 under the new agreement.
Pakistan facing gas shortage in winters
Pakistan is one of the most gas-intensive countries in the world where natural gas was made available to households at dirt-cheap prices for years. The country is now witnessing gas shortages and load shedding, compelling Pakistan to explore local resources and import LNG which is very expensive. The current gas demand in the country is 4700 mmcfd (million cubic feet per day) which increases to 6500 mmcfd during the winter season, leading to gas shortage. Natural gas contributes about 35 per cent in the primary energy supply mix of the country.
Way forward on projects
On Tuesday, Pakistan and Turkmenistan officials held the technical working group on TAPI to decide the future roadmap. Pakistan likely discussed the gas price review and shift the delivery point to the Pakistan-Afghan border from the Afghan-Turkmen border given the changing regional dynamics. Pakistan agreed to hold the meeting of the technical working group on TAP power project in a week’s time. Turkmenistan’s delegation also included chairman of the board and CEO of TAPI Pipeline Company Limited Muhammetmyrat Amanov, Ministry of Energy of Turkmenistan M. Artykov, Ambassador of Turkmenistan Atadjan Movlamov among other officials.
TAPI gas pipeline
TAPI pipeline project will transport some 33 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas per year from fields in Turkmenistan through 1,800 kilometres to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India during the 30-year commercial operations period. The inter-governmental agreement by the heads of four countries was signed in 2010. The project is funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
TAP power project
The framework agreement for Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (TAP) power project was signed in 2018 to support the energy needs of regional countries. The project will include the construction of around 500 kilometres of 500 kilovolt transmission line connecting the three countries. Once completed, the project will be able to transfer up to 4,000 megawatts of power from Turkmenistan into Afghanistan and Pakistan. The project would help meet Pakistan’s electricity demand, which is around 25,000MW in the summertime peak and 12,000MW in the winter.
