The saga of transnational gas pipelines to India continues with Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar seeking to include Turkmenistan as another supply source from the west.Earlier, India had turned down Asian Development Bank’s offer to participate in the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan pipeline project.Aiyar has sought permission from the external affairs ministry to visit Asghabat and Kabul to initiate ‘conversations without commitment’ with the two countries.Aiyar hopes to gain a foothold in the negotiations between Pakistan and Turkmenistan and is even considering the option to tag the pipeline with the proposed Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline.GAIL (India), which studied the link-up possibility, has suggested that the ‘‘two transnational pipelines may get linked through the domestic north-south pipeline infrastructure of Pakistan’’ that could involve laying connecting pipeline in excess of 700 km.Another option suggested is to link up with the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline through a trunk line from Daulatabad (Turkmenistan) to northern Iran. This would mean traversing a distance of 1300 km.This option removes Afghanistan from the scheme of things providing a direct link between Iran and Turkmenistan. The combined gas outflow from these two countries can then be supplied to India through a single pipeline from Iran via Pakistan. However, from a security standpoint, the GAIL report observes that two separate pipelines — one entering from Rajasthan (Iran) and second entering Punjab (Turkmenistan) could prove to be more reassuring.
