Progress on TAPI pipeline in doubt

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, June 18 (UPI) -- Plans for the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline to move forward seem unlikely because of security and diplomatic concerns.

Officials have raised repeated concerns that the security risks for the $7.8 billion TAPI project along the planned route through Afghanistan are far too high, Pakistan's news service, Online International News Network, reports.

Meanwhile, Turkmenistan has failed to come forward with audits of its overall gas reserves while a U.S.-backed civilian nuclear energy program in India puts New Delhi's role in doubt.

The 1,044-mile TAPI pipeline is seen as a rival to the long-delayed Iran-Pakistan-India natural gas pipeline from the Iranian South Pars gas field. Security of the TAPI route through Afghanistan is an impediment, though in 2008 the Afghan government made several pledges to relieve those concerns.

Asim Hussain, a top energy negotiator from Pakistan, had led a delegation to Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, in April to discuss TAPI. Agreements with Iran were reached earlier in the year on IPI, though reports Wednesday said the partners were at odds over feasibility contracts for the pipeline.

Pakistan is struggling to overcome a looming energy crisis with either project, though progress on both TAPI and IPI is slow.