NEW DELHI, April 29 (UPI) -- Talks in New Delhi over a multilateral natural gas pipeline from Turkmenistan faltered because of concerns over fees and security, authorities said.
New Delhi was the site this week for talks regarding the proposed Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India. The Western-backed natural gas pipeline is seen as a rival to Iran's plans to deliver gas from the South Pars complex in the Persian Gulf to its eastern neighbors.
Indian Natural Gas Minister Jaipal Reddy expressed concern over outstanding issues like safety of the pipeline in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"As a buyer and being at the tail end of the project, India has concerns relating to safety of the pipeline and safe transit of gas through Afghanistan and Pakistan," he was quoted by Indian newspaper The Hindu as saying. "Quite obviously, our goal is not merely the construction of the pipeline but also continuous and uninterrupted flow of Turkmen natural gas over several decades."
New Delhi expressed similar concerns during negotiations over the Iranian gas pipeline, dubbed the Peace Pipeline.
New Delhi and Islamabad, meanwhile, failed to agree on the price proposed by Turkmenistan for the natural gas from the giant Daulatabad gas field.
Kabul has another round of talks on the TAPI project in May.
