NEW DELHI, Oct 12: India, under intense US pressure to abandon the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project, will attend a crucial steering committee meeting of the ADB-backed Turkmenistan gas pipeline project in Islamabad next month, news reports say.

The Indian Express said the ADB proposed the meeting for November 28-29 in Islamabad, which would include India in the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan pipeline (TAPI) project. The agenda would be to bring together the four nations for signing of the Heads of Agreement (HoA) and the Gas Pipeline Framework Agreement (GPFA).

Unlike the tedious discussions between Iran and India over the Gas Sales Purchase Agreement (GSPA) or the project execution, or between India and Pakistan over pipeline tariff and transit fee, the drafts submitted by the ADB clearly spelt out the role and responsibility of each signatory, the Express said.

The ADB’s HoA specified that Turkmenistan would provide 34.26 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas from its Daulatabad fields to meet Pakistan’s need of 16.95TCF, and India and Afghanistan’s joint demand of 17.31TCF over 30 years.

And by December 31, Turkmenistan would provide the three buyers’ certification from an international firm “confirming availability of adequate undedicated gas reserves in the field,” the HoA said.