Ashgabat, 13 May 2012 (nCa) — Pakistan is fully committed to both Turkmenistan and Iran gas pipeline projects, said Nawabzada Malik Amad Khan, the minister of state for foreign affairs of Pakistan in an exclusive conversation Saturday with nCa in Ashgabat.
This dispels the impression that Pakistan could be pursuing an either-or approach on its major gas import projects.
TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) pipeline will carry some 33 bcm (billion cubic meters) of gas from Turkmenistan to South Asia.
IP (Iran-Pakistan) pipeline will transport similar volumes of Iranian gas to Pakistan.
In 2015, the natural gas supply and demand gap in Pakistan would be around 18 bcm and it would continue to rise. The long term outlook envisages nearly the same energy mix as it is today i.e. natural gas as about 48% of total energy consumption.
By the time TAPI comes into service in 2017, the share of Pakistan from this pipeline would not be enough to cover the growing demand and supply gap.
This projection does not take into account the growth potential of economy that will rise to the surface as soon more supplies of natural gas become available.
Energy experts are of the opinion that both the TAPI and IP would be essential to bolster the sagging economy of Pakistan.
Amad Khan explained that Pakistan was working on both the projects without yielding to external pressures. He said that different dynamics were involved in pushing both the projects toward implementation and Pakistan was systematically dealing with the obstacles in both the cases.