ISLAMABAD, April 12 (Xinhuanet) -- Ministers from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Turkmenistan on Tuesday opened a two-day meeting here to discuss Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (TAP) gas pipeline.

During the first-day talks of the tripartite ministerial meeting, Afghan Minister for Mines and Industry Mir Muhammad Saddiq assured that Afghanistan will guarantee security of the multi-billion gas pipeline that will bring gas from Turkmenistan to Pakistan via Afghanistan.

"We are also of the view that the security situation is improving," said Pakistani Petroleum Minister Amanullah Khan Jadoon after received the assurance from his Afghani counterpart.

On India's participation in the TAP, Khan said Islamabad has no reservations if India joins the project. "They are welcome if they join the project but Pakistan will go ahead with the projects even if India does not join them."

On gas reserves, he said Tukmen Oil Minister A.G.Pudakov informed the meeting about their reserves.

"They gave an outlay, which shows that they have substantial reserves. We will send our experts to visit their Daulatabad fields. We will confirm what information we have received. Let the report come," said Pakistani minister.

Pakistan has been insisting for the past 20 months that certified reserves are a must for the progress of the project.

The committee has not met for the past 11 months owing to non-availability of this certification, though it is required to meet on a quarterly basis.

LINK: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-04/...ent_2820755.htm

Govt team to attend gas project meeting in DohaPublished: Sunday, 10 April, 2005, 11:59 AM Doha Time

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has started pursuing alternative gas import options from Qatar and Turkmenistan.

An official delegation would visit Doha on April 24-25 to attend a technical committee meeting with Qatar and Sharjah-based Crescent Petroleum to pursue the Qatar-Pakistan pipeline project.

Pakistan has been asking Qatar to increase its throughput from 1.6bn cubic feet to 2bn cubic feet, but Doha has not given a commitment to this effect yet.

Sources said the gas pipeline politics had taken a new turn following advice by the United States to India not to pursue gas import plans from Iran.

Meanwhile, it has been learnt that officials from Afghanistan, Turkmenistan and Pakistan are to meet in Islamabad on April 12-13 to discuss the long-planned tripartite gas pipeline project.

The three-nation ministerial steering committee on gas pipelines project is to discuss the security situation in Afghanistan, underground gas storage capacity in Pakistan and certification of gas reserves in Turkmenistan’s Daulatabad gas field.

A Ministry of Petroleum official said that the meeting would be given four presentations relating to the construction of pipeline from Turkmenistan to Pakistan and India.

The Turkmenistan government would give a presentation on the certification of Daulatabad gas field reserves. The steering committee involving Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan would then discuss the certification in detail.

Representatives of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) would also attend the meeting.

M/s Penspen, the consultant appointed by the ADB, would give a presentation on the project’s feasibility study covering its technical, economic and legal aspects.

The Afghan representative would brief the participants about the security situation in his country in general and the pipeline’s route areas in particular.

The fourth presentation would be given by Sohfer gas, appointed by the government of Pakistan, on the prospects of utilising the country’s depleted underground storages to ensure uninterrupted supply in winter.

Sources said that gas supplies in summer were usually surplus and could be stored in strategic reserves in the old gas fields, which had been depleted over the years.

The Daulatabad gas reserves certification and its authenticity would determine whether or not the $3bn project is feasible.

The committee has not met for the past 11 months owing to non-availability of this certification, though it is required to meet on a quarterly basis.

Pakistan has been insisting for the past 20 months that certified reserves were a must for the progress of the project.

LINK: http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/arti...41&parent_id=23

NEW DELHI: India has proposed to extend Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline to China to ensure uninterrupted gas supplies to the country.

"There has been no separate detailed consideration of energy cooperation between India and China (but) in my interactions with Chinese officials I raised the issue of extending Iran-India gas pipeline to south China via Myanmar," Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said.

The 2600-km pipeline, which would land in Rajasthan, is proposed to travel through the heart of India and into Myanmar via Bangladesh and than travel to China.

Supply disruption to India, by any terror attack, would than mean the fuel supplies are also cut to China and therefore such an arrangement would guarantee greater stability to the project.

Aiyar said India and China could also collaborate in their quest for oil and gas fields abroad.

LINK: http://www.geo.tv/main_files/world.aspx?id=73484