ISLAMABAD, Aug 4: Petroleum and Natural Resources Minister Nouraiz Shakoor has said the government will finalize at least one natural gas import pipeline project by end of this year to meet the future demand.

In an interview, the minister said the government was working on three major projects to meet the increasing demand of gas in future. These include Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan pipeline, Qatar-Pakistan and Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project.

Mr Shakoor said the government would decide in December this year that which pipeline was suitable and the priority chart would be presented in the cabinet for approval.

About the progress on Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan (TAP) gas pipeline project, he said that next meeting of the Ministerial Steering Committee on the $3.2 billion project was likely to be held in a few weeks.

The proposed 1,460-km pipeline will bring gas to Pakistan via Afghanistan from the Daulatabad gas fields in Turkmenistan - the fifth largest in the world. The Asian Development Bank has funded the feasibility study of the project which was completed in June last year by Brown and Roots consultants.

The engineering work and feasibility study of the $3 billion Pakistan-Qatar gas pipelines has already been completed with the cost of $30 million. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the government of Pakistan has been signed for import of up to 1.6 billion cubic feet of gas per day from Qatar starting from the year 2010.

Initially, the project is to supply 1.6 billion cubic feet of gas per day and is ultimately raised up to 3.5 billion cubic feet per day. The capital cost of the project is estimated at $1.8 billion.

As per discussion going on with the sponsors, Pakistan will not require to make any investment at the initial stage. However, it has to ensure provision of infrastructure for distribution of gas and sustainable demand for gas consumption.

The third proposed project under discussion in a pipeline that will extend from Iran to Pakistan and could go onto India. -APP