Brushing aside security concerns on the proposed Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline, Pakistan on Monday said it is looking to sign the gas supply and purchase agreement for the $7.6 billion pipeline by July."I don't think security is an issue. This was never raised in the meeting which we had few days ago... Neither the Afghan side showed any concern, nor did the Pakistan side, nor India, as far as security is concerned," the Pakistan Prime Minister's Energy Advisor for Petroleum and Natural Resources, Dr Asim Hussain, said in an interview.
Indian Petroleum Minister S Jaipal Reddy had said last week that as a buyer and being at the tail-end of the project, India has concerns relating to the safety of the pipeline and safe transit of gas through Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"Quite obviously, our goal is not merely the construction of the pipeline, but also the continuous and uninterrupted flow of Turkmen natural gas over several decades," Reddy had said after a meeting in New Delhi last week among all the four nations for the pipeline.
"If it was an issue, it would have been raised in the meeting," Hussain, who was in New Delhi to attend the meeting, said when asked about Pakistan's willingness to guarantee
unhindered supply of gas through its territory.
In the four nations' ministerial meeting last week, both India and Pakistan had agreed to the broader aspects of the gas sales and purchase agreement, but crucial things like the price of gas and transit fee are yet to be decided.
The deadline for signing of the GSPA was also extended to July 31 from the earlier schedule of April-end in the meeting.
The Pakistan Prime Minister's Energy Advisor added that all the four countries will meet in Kabul in the next few days to deliberate on issues like the gas price.
"We are meeting in Kabul in the next few days and then in Pakistan. So it will be finalised soon. We should be able to sign the GSPA by July 31," he said.
He added that Pakistan will work jointly with India while negotiating the gas price with Turkmenistan.
"It has to be considerably less than crude oil prices. Everyone wants the best price... We will have a joint strategy with India as far as the purchase of gas is concerned (while negotiating the prices)," he said.
According to Indian Oil Ministry sources, Turkmenistan is talking of three different prices for Afghanistan, Pakistan and India that are likely to be not less than $7-7.5/MMBtu, the rate at which it sells gas to China.
