India has proposed constructing a $4bn and 1,300 km-long undersea pipeline to supply natural gas from Iran, with the possibility of Turkmenistan participating in the project via swap operations with Iran, the Times of Central Asia reported on September 7.
The trans-national deep-water gas pipeline would also pass through Oman but bypass Pakistan, Iran’s PressTV reported. The proposed pipeline would be at odds with Turkmenistan’s Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline, which is currently seen as possibly unlikely to see the light of day due to geopolitical issues posed by Afghanistan and Pakistan. While Turkmenistan would benefit from India’s pipeline, as a cheaper alternative it would potentially put the TAPI project on the back burner.
On the other hand, the Iranian government is preparing a legal case against Turkmenistan for presentation at the International Court of Arbitration, concerning Turkmenistan's decision to cut off gas supplies to Iran last winter after rows over historical debts that could not be resolved. However, Turkmen officials have recently referred to plans to make 7bn cubic metres of gas supplies to Iran this year, unchanged from 2016.
The pipeline would carry 31.5mn cubic meters of gas per day. The project to construct it would take two years to complete.
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