ISLAMABAD, March 15: Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan have formally asked India to become a partner in the $5 billion TAP gas pipeline project and take a decision to this effect latest by May 15.

Informed sources told Dawn on Wednesday that the request to ‘join or give up the TAP-pipeline’ was made to India at meeting of the steering committee held in Ashgabad on Feb 15.

The Asian Development Bank and delegations of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan participated in talks while India attended it as observer.

The sources said that the TAP project might supersede plans of Iranian and Qatari gas import to Pakistan and India because of political and financial reasons.

The TAP project would cost $5 billion compared with $7 billion of Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) and $8 billion of Qatar-Pakistan-India projects. The TAP project enjoys support from the United States which is opposed to IPI plan.

The steering committee asked India to convey to them in three months whether or not it wanted to be a partner in the TAP project to enable the three countries and ADB to amend the framework agreement and get the project moving.

A clear response from India is a must before launching the detailed feasibility study and engineering design of the TAP project by June.

The ADB has already proposed various structures of the pipeline for attracting investors, contractors and financial institutions.

The sources said that Turkmenistan informed the meeting that an independent firm — De Golyer & McNaughton — had confirmed reserves of over 2.3 trillion cubic meters (TCM) of gas at Daulatabad field. Additional reserves of about 1.2TCM are expected after drilling of the adjacent area.

The gas production capacity of the field could be increased to about 125MMCMD (million cubic metre per day) from the current 80MMCMD. Turkmenistan has committed to provide sovereign guarantees for long-term uninterrupted supplies to Pakistan and India.