Azerbaijan, Baku, July 28 / Trend S. Suleymanov /
The project of laying Trans-Afghani gas pipeline (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) is interesting from a commercial point of view, U.S. Special Envoy for Eurasian Energy, Richard Morningstar said in Astana.
He said that this project raises questions in terms of security.
"This is a project to be considered. From a commercial point of view, it is quite interesting. But there are questions of security, which must be resolved," Morningstar said.
"And if they [security issues] are resolved, it will be a very interesting project for all countries," U.S. special envoy said.
An obstacle for the realization of the Trans-Afghani pipeline project, discussed since early 1990, is continuing military actions in Afghanistan.
Its length can reach 1,680 km, its design capacity - 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year. The route is planned from the Turkmen field Dovletabat through Herat and Kandahar (Afghanistan), through the districts of Quetta (Pakistan) to the area Fazlaka on the Indo-Pakistan border.
The Italian oil company Eni has recently expressed its wish to transport gas from Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Iran to Pakistan, India and China.
Turkmenistan ranks fourth in the world on natural oil reserves. It sells it to Russia, Iran and China. The access to Europe is on the agenda.
