TAPI Gas Pipeline Work Begins in Afghanistan

The joint venture of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India TAPI gas-pipeline work has officially started in Afghanistan.

• The inaugural ceremony was attended by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Turkmen counterpart Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov joined Pakistani premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and India’s minister of state for external affairs Shri M. J. Akbar in the ancient Afghan city of Herat.
• The prime objective of TAPI gas pipeline is to raise hopes for regional cooperation and peace among the four nations

Importance of TAPI Gas Pipeline

• TAPI Gas Pipeline is an eight billion dollar project aimed at linking the energy-rich nations Turkmenistan to India and Pakistan through Afghanistan. It is supported by the United States and the Asian Development Bank. Turkmenistan has been trying to tout the project since the 1990s but starting work on the pipeline has been delayed because of the problem of crossing Afghanistan. 
• Turkmenistan owns the fourth largest natural gas reserves and thus the pipeline will help to export the natural gas to India and Pak. Galkynysh, the world's second-biggest gas field, will feed the TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) pipeline. The pipeline will allow Turkmenistan to find new consumers in Asia and cut its dependence on Beijing, which buys about 35 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas annually. In 2016, Turkmenistan's major buyer of natural gas Russia ceased to purchase the gas completely.

Turkmenistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan–India Pipeline

• The Turkmenistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan–India Pipeline (TAPI), also known as Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline from the Caspian Sea. It is a natural gas pipeline being developed by the Galkynysh – TAPI Pipeline Company Limited. The natural gas from the Galkynysh Gas Field in Turkmenistan will be transported through Afghanistan to India and Pakistan. It is expected that the project will be operationalised in 2019.
• Out of the total 1,814 km., the pipeline will run for 214 km in Turkmenistan, 774 km in Afghanistan along the Kandahar-Herat highway, 826 km in Pakistan through Quetta and Multan and finally reaching the settlement of Fazilka, in India located near the India-Pakistan border.

Expected Questions

In which of the following towns of India TAPI gas pipeline will reach at the end after running Pakistan's Quetta and Multan?

a. Attari

b. Fazilka

c. Longewala

d. Other than the above

Tapi Gas pipeline is supported by

a. United States and Asian Development Bank

b. United States and World Bank

c. World Bank and International Monetary Fund

d. Other than the above

TAPI Gas pipeline will go through which of the following seas?

a. Caribbean Sea

b. Arabian Sea

c. Caspian Sea

d. Red Sea

The natural gas from the ________ in Turkmenistan will be transported through Afghanistan to India and Pakistan.
a. Dauletabad Gas Field
b. Groningen Gas Field
c. Urengoy Gas Field
d. Galkynysh Gas Field