TAPI: How will Afghanistan dispose of Turkmen gas?
Once realized Afghanistan's 30-year-old dream of a gas pipeline will help not only to provide the country with energy sources, but will also give a stimulus to industrial development, says the article published recently by Reuters. What role will the Turkmen “blue fuel” play in the industrial sector of the economy of the IRA? As for this, Kabul has several plans, varying from the direct supply to the heating system of residential sectors to feeding the chemical plants. Of course, their implementation will be preceded by massive efforts. There is a need to secure necessary funding of a 5% share of Afghanistan under the project, to address security issues and to attract investors. “They’re thinking, ‘Why a 30-year project that has not come into practice will be able to fully function in a few years?’ There is still that resistance, that maybe we will not be able to implement on time,” told acting minister of mines and petroleum Nargis Nehan in an interview to Reuters. However, slowly but surely, Afghanistan is moving ahead in the TAPI framework, despite some skeptical opinions, which, incidentally, are drowned out by the strong support of the world community, for example, the UN. The western province of Afghanistan, Herat is conducting land surveys. The construction works at the transnational gas pipeline would be launched in the fall. The ministry of mines and petroleum continues the technical work on the project. As regards security, the Afghan interior ministry has deployed many thousands of forces to protect the future construction. At full capacity 1840-km long TAPI will supply to Afghanistan up to 5 billion cubic meters annually, that will meet the country’s needs, dependent on imported electricity and often facing energy shortages. According to Samuel Tumiwa, the country director of the Asian Development Bank, currently ADB and the World Bank are developing a feasibility study for a project to generate electricity from gas, which will be used by fertilizer and petrochemical plants. “A gas distribution system in Herat, Afghanistan’s third-largest city, could also pipe gas directly to homes for heating and generate electricity for plants to process juice and nuts”, he said. The state-run energy company Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat makes its own plans for using Turkmen “blue fuel”, examining the location for the future power plant construction, which will convert TAPI gas into electric energy. In addition, DABS expects to receive additional volumes of natural gas for the first years of operation of the pipeline, until it is completely laid in Pakistan and India. Utilization of gas will require additional infrastructure for its transportation from the gas mains to feeder lines, compression stations. In Tumiwa's opinion, these costs and the Afghan share of the capital are likely to be covered by international donors. “Unlike other projects in Afghanistan, TAPI will immediately generate revenue and gas when it starts operating”, said Nargis Nehan. “From investment perspective, I think it is better that we focus on such projects.” The practical implementation of the TAPI project in Afghanistan started in February this year. The first gas supplies via the line are expected by 2019-2020.
