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• The vexed issue of transit fee for Turkmenistan Afghanistan Pakistan and India (TAPI) gas pipeline is expected to dominate the bilateral discussions between Petroleum Minister S Jaipal Reddy and his Pakistani counterpart Asim Hussain, who is arriving in New Delhi on January 25, even as the Government is hoping to wrap up the agreement on the project within a month. Petroleum Ministry sources told The Pioneer that the two Ministers are scheduled to discuss the matter on the same day. The vexed issue has been pending  quite some time and has been holding back the ambitious project, as both the nations have failed to agree on the fee, which Islamabad would charge New Delhi for transmitting gas through the proposed pipeline, which will come to India from Turkmenistan via Afghanistan and Pakistan.

• According to official sources, India wants to settle the transit fee issue before it moves towards signing the Gas Sale and Purchase Agreement (GSPA), which would kickstart the TAPI project.During the talks, both the sides are also likely to base their discussions on various available international permutations regarding the length of the transit pipeline and also the volume of gas which is to be transmitted to India through Pakistan under the project.

• India is optimistic about resolving the transit fee issue with Pakistan, and its confidence stems from the fact that a Petroleum Ministry source informed this correspondent that though New Delhi is yet to sign the GSPA for TAPI project, it is expected to be “finalised within a month”.The source added that a team consisting of senior Ministry officials would be visiting Turkmenistan in February to finalise the agreement as only some minor technicalities are left to be wrapped up.

• If the buoyed mood within the Ministry corridor is anything to go by, then the outcome of next week’s deliberations between Reddy and Hussain would be keenly awaited by both sides.The $7.6 billion TAPI project involves building a 1,735-km pipeline with a total gas capacity of 90 million standard cubic meters per day. The pipeline will run from Turkmenistan’s Yolotan-Osman gas field to Herat and Kandahar in Afghanistan, via Multan in Pakistan, and will finally end at Fazilka (Punjab) in India.

• On completion of the project, India is expected to receive 38 mmscmd of gas through the pipeline. The project was initially planned to be completed by end of 2014, but the deadline has now been revised to mid-2016.Apart from the transit fee issue between India and Pakistan, the gas price issue among all the four nations has also been holding back the project and this primarily has been the reason behind the signing of the GSPA among them, sources said.While the GSPA was scheduled to be signed by July 31, 2011, it was further delayed due to these differences. However with positive signs emerging through official channels, chances are that all outstanding issues would resolved, thus brightening prospects of kickstarting the project.

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