The Russian CHTPZ Group won the tender of the Türkmengaz to supply pipes for the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline currently under construction.
The CHTPZ Group’s Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant will supply 214 kilometers pipes for the construction of the linear part of the TAPI pipeline. The cost of the deal amounted to more than $200 million.
Russia’s Sberbank, a state-owned Russian banking and financial services company, confirmed the $219 million letter of credit in favor of the CHTPZ Group on behalf of the State Bank for Foreign Economic Affairs of Turkmenistan credited by the Islamic Development Bank to finance construction of the ambitious, multi-billion dollar TAPI gas pipeline expected to help ease energy deficits in South Asia.
Construction of the Turkmen section of the TAPI was launched on Dec. 13, 2015. Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India broke ground on the Afghan section of the TAPI on Feb. 23, 2018.
The Islamic Development Bank signed an agreement with the State Bank for Foreign Economic Affairs of Turkmenistan in 2016 to loan Turkmenistan $700 million for construction of the TAPI pipeline. The loan term is 15 years.
The 1,814-kilometre TAPI pipeline will transport natural gas from the Galkynysh Gas Field in Turkmenistan through Afghanistan into Pakistan and then to India. The capacity will be 33 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year.
The leading partner of the project is Türkmengaz, Turkmenistan’s national gas company and the main shareholder of TAPI Pipeline Company Limited established to carry out the project.
Chelyabinsk Tube Rolling Plant, which is also known as ChelPipe, is one of the largest companies manufacturing pipe products in Russia. The plant previously had also supplied large diameter pipes for the construction of the third stage of the Central Asia-China international gas pipeline connecting Turkmenistan to China’s domestic grid.
