Turkmenistan starts welding TAPI pipeline’s linear part

The Turkmennebitgazgurlushyk (“Turkmenneftegazstroy”) state industry company has begun welding the pipes of the linear part of Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline’s Turkmen section.

More than 100 units of special equipment are being used, according to the Turkmen Oil and Gas Ministry.

Engineering services of Turkmengas completed the topographic survey and complex of engineering and survey works on more than 200-kilometer line of the gas main – from super-giant Galkynysh field to the border with Afghanistan.

A compressor plant and related facilities - including water intakes and engineering networks, access roads, control centers, shift camps and power transmission lines (PTL) - are expected to be built in the Turkmen section, according to the press release.

The main document for the TAPI, called the Ashgabat Interstate Agreement, was signed in 2010.

The groundbreaking ceremony for TAPI’s Turkmen section was held in mid-December of 2015.

The pipeline’s length can reach 1,814 kilometers, including 214 kilometers running through Turkmenistan, 774 kilometers – Afghanistan and 826 kilometers - Pakistan.

Earlier, addressing the Council of Elders in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan’s President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov said his country is the initiator of holding international negotiations on the global energy security.

This initiative was supported in 2008 and 2013 when the UN General Assembly unanimously accepted the draft resolutions proposed by Turkmenistan on reliable and stable transportation of energy resources to world markets.

“We consider the creation of a multiple-option pipeline infrastructure aimed at supplying Turkmen energy sources to world markets as a factor positively affecting the development of regional and interregional economic cooperation and an important condition for ensuring equal access of partners to Turkmenistan’s hydrocarbon sources,” said the president. (Trend.az)