UK engineering group Penspen has been awarded a contract to carry out a technical feasibility study for the proposed 1,820-km pipeline Turkmenistan- Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) natural gas pipeline.
The Asian Development Bank, which is helping the four nations build 56-inch diameter pipeline from Turkmenistan's giant Galkynysh gas field to serve energy markets in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, awarded the contract to Penspen last week.
"Penspen's scope of work includes a review of the proposed route, confirmation of hydraulics including compressor station size and location, provision of cost estimates and development of project execution strategy and schedule," the company said in a press statement here.
The technical feasibility study is expected to take six months to complete.
"Penspen has awarded a sub-contract to the Netherlands- based Royal Haskoning an international engineering, consultancy and project management firm to undertake the important environmental and social safeguards components of the study," the statement said.
ADB was appointed 'Transaction Advisor' by the four nations to the pipeline project in December last year. Its main task is to help set up an international consortium, including a leader with experience of constructing and operating transnational pipelines.
Billed as 'Peace Pipeline' for the troubled South-Asia region, the US is backing the TAPI gas pipeline project as an alternative to a line from Iran.
The four nations are looking for an international reputed firm with experience in building and operating cross-country pipeline to lead the TAPI pipeline construction consortium that may include national oil companies like GAIL India, which otherwise neither have the financial muscle nor experience of cross-country line.
ADB will help the four nations put up a credible consortium that would build and operate the line passing through volatile Afghanistan and Pakistan territories.
The TAPI pipeline will have a capacity to carry 90 million standard cubic metres a day (mmscmd) gas for a 30-year period and will be operational in 2018.
India and Pakistan would get 38 mmscmd each, while the remaining 14 mmscmd will be supplied to Afghanistan.
TAPI will carry gas from Turkmenistan's Galkynysh field, better known by its previous name South Yoiotan Osman that holds gas reserves of 16 trillion cubic feet. From the field, the pipeline will run to Herat and Kandahar province of Afghanistan, before entering Pakistan. In Pakistan, it will reach Multan via Quetta before ending at Fazilka (Punjab) in India.
