Wednesday, August 23 2006 15:41 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Islamabad: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is currently in the final stages of revising the framework agreement and inter-state agreements to include India in the $7-billion Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan gas pipeline project.

The revisions in the framework agreement would allow the ADB to include extension of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (TAP) gas pipeline to India in the pre-feasibility study including routes, pipeline capacity, design and security aspects, Dawn said.

The agreement would also define in clear terms the right of the participating states to inject or draw gas from the pipeline in case of additional gas quantities.

New Delhi is seeking to incorporate in the agreement special clauses that could guarantee that gas volumes contracted to India would in no circumstances be disturbed at any stage if Pakistan required higher quantities than original contracts for the Gwadar port that opened recently in Balochistan, the sources said.

This would, however, not restrict Pakistan to have maximum supplies subject to pipeline capacity, the newspaper said quoting unnamed 'informed sources'.

Quoting an official spokesman, the report, however, said that the "assessment of the consultant will not be binding".

According to an update of Pakistan's petroleum ministry, the project is currently faced with seven major bottlenecks. These include non-confirmation of uncommitted gas volume by Turkmenistan regarding the Daulatabad gas field, uncertainties or lack of clarity with regard to price of the gas to be demanded by Turkmenistan and the security situation in Afghanistan.

Mooted 10 years ago, the project has been baulked by the changing political and security scenario in Afghanistan.

Pakistan is pursuing a two-pronged strategy on a bilateral as well as trilateral basis. In order to facilitate discussion on gas pricing parameters, the three countries considered it appropriate to engage a mutually acceptable consultant to provide inputs with regard to such parameters

The spokesman described the project as a commercial deal. The high-level discussions between Pakistan and Iran were meant to accelerate the progress. He said the discussions on financial, commercial, technical and legal aspects were being held in a parallel rather than a sequential manner.

The spokesman claimed that the gas price quoted in a news report was misleading as discussions at this stage were on the gas pricing mechanism rather than absolute numbers.