インドなど「ＴＡＰＩ」４カ国 パイプライン建設合意

インドなど「ＴＡＰＩ」４カ国　パイプライン建設合意　
FujiSankei Business i. 2008/4/26 　TrackBack（ 0 ）

　■トルクメンの天然ガス　２０１５年めどにに供給

　■治安懸念も…エネルギー需給逼迫で“見切り発車”

　トルクメニスタン、アフガニスタン、パキスタン、インドの４カ国は２５日まで２日間にわたりパキスタンの首都イスラマバードで石油相会議を開き、トルクメンの天然ガスを他の３カ国に輸送するパイプラインの建設で合意した。世界的なエネルギー需給逼迫（ひっぱく）に対応し、建設を急ぐことにした。トルクメンの膨大なガス資源をめぐっては、中国やロシアなど周辺国による争奪戦が激化している。

　建設するのは、４カ国の頭文字をとった「ＴＡＰＩガスパイプライン」。総工費は７６億ドル（約７６００億円）。トルクメンのドーレタバードガス田からアフガンのカンダハル、パキスタンのムルタンなどを経由し、インドのニューデリーまでの総延長１６８０キロメートルを結ぶ。２０１０年に着工し、１５年から日量９億６０００万立方メートルの天然ガスを供給する計画だ。

　トルクメンのガス田埋蔵量は２０兆立方メートルを上回るとの見方があるものの、正確な統計はなく、パイプラインが完成しても、どの程度の期間にわたり供給できるかの見通しは立っていない。今回の合意を受け、同国は５カ月以内に第三者による埋蔵量調査を実施することを約束した。ガス供給価格や投資負担などの詳細は年内に詰める。

　ＴＡＰＩパイプラインは、これまで断続的に建設に向けた協議が続けられていたが、通過するアフガニスタンで治安確保の見通しが立たず足踏みしていた。ここへ来て世界的なエネルギー需給が一段と逼迫。エネルギー不足に悩むインドとパキスタンで早期建設への期待が高まり、見切り発車した形だ。

　インドのメディアによると、パキスタンのアシフ石油天然資源相は「４カ国は計画の開始に合わせ、治安問題を解決する」と語り、警備などに全力を挙げる考えを示した。

　インドはトルクメンのほか、イランからもパキスタンを経由する「ＩＰＩパイプライン」を建設して天然ガスを輸入する話し合いを進めているが、核開発をめぐりイランと対立する米国から強い反対圧力を受けている。ＴＡＰＩ建設計画始動によりＩＰＩ建設機運は低下するとの見方もある。

　トルクメンのガス資源をめぐっては、すでに中国が合弁で中国向けパイプライン建設に着手しているものの、「ロシアがトルクメンに触手を伸ばしつつあるため、中国が天然ガスを予定通り確保できるかは不透明」（石油天然ガス・金属鉱物資源機構）という。

　天然ガス供給の多くを露国営天然ガス独占企業体、ガスプロムに依存している欧州各国も、同社の影響力拡大をきらい、トルクメンからのパイプライン建設を求めるなど、争奪戦が激化している。

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Accord on TAPI gas pipeline project

Nirupama Subramanian

Four nations describe it as “economically viable”

ISLAMABAD: The Petroleum Ministers of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India signed an agreement on Thursday for the $7.6 million-TAPI gas pipeline project, describing it as “financially and economically viable” despite the escalation in costs since the time it was first proposed.
Two-day talks

The implementation of the pipeline project will begin in 2010, and the first supplies of gas should start flowing through the 1,680-km pipeline in 2015, Indian Petroleum Secretary M. S. Srinivasan said at a joint press conference of Ministers and officials of all the four participating countries after their two-day deliberations.
Security issues

The pipeline is to carry 3.2 billion cubic ft of gas a day.

It will begin at the Dauletabad gas field in Turkemenistan, pass through Herat and Kandahar in Afghanistan, and Multan in Pakistan, ending at Fazilka on the India-Pakistan border. “We will sort out the security issues when the project begins,” said Pakistan Oil and Natural Resources Minister Khwaja Asif.

The Pakistan Minister attributed the delays in the project thus far to the troubles in the region.

“We are living in a volatile region, and it has made things go slow,” he said.

He said the Turkmen government had agreed to provide a third party certification of its gas reserves within five months.

Independent verification of the reserves is a major concern for the participating countries and was one of the main issues discussed at the 10th Steering Committee meeting of TAPI that ended this afternoon with the signing of the Gas Pipeline Framework Agreement.

The agreement formally inducts India into the project as a full member. Officials said the Asian Development Bank, which conceptualised and has actively lobbied for the project, only played the role of an “honest broker” in facilitating the four governments to come together. The bank would not fund the project.
Pricing issues

The meeting also touched upon pricing issues, with Pakistan and India jointly making a counter-proposal to the Turkmen proposal for the pricing formula.

Mr. Srinivasan said the matter would be taken up in further technical-level meetings between now and the 11th Steering Committee meeting, which is to be held in New Delhi later this year.

On Friday, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora and Mr, Asif will meet to discuss the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline project.
Deora meets Zardari

After the TAPI meeting, Mr. Deora called on Pakistan People’s Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and condoled the

assassination of Benazir Bhutto.

A PPP release said the two also discussed “matters of mutual interest” during the meeting that lasted 30 minutes.

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The Iranian connection

Having compelled the United States to back down from its unsolicited advice on how best India can deal with Iran, New Delhi is all set to welcome Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad next week. In firmly telling Washington that it did not need "any guidance" on how to conduct bilateral relations with another country, New Delhi also did well to point out that "both nations are perfectly capable of managing all aspects of their relationship with the appropriate degree of care and attention."

Admittedly, India, more than the US, is acutely aware of the hazards of a nuclear-armed Iran, flanked as it already is by nuclearised Pakistan and China. However, given China's strategic proximity to Pakistan, it little serves India's national security interest to antagonise Iran in any manner that could make South Asia bristle with hostility and imbalance of power. In essence, India can ill afford to ape the Americans' visceral hatred of Iran, simply because the geography and politics of the region impel otherwise. As pointed out by former US ambassador to India Robert Blackwill, "if it (India) faces a binary choice of either that (a nuclear Iran) or an American military attack on Iran, it would choose to try to deal with a nuclear Iran, without the attack." New Delhi has therefore categorically asserted that "engagement and dialogue alone can lead to peace."

India has had a civilisational link with Iran which it can now appropriately employ to inform bilateral relations in tune with 21st century realities. To that extent India has consistently maintained that dialogue, not military aggression, is the best form of engagement with the Iranian leadership. Although India did vote against Iran at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in 2006 -- a move that disturbed Tehran a bit -- following it up with the launch of an Israeli spy satellite earlier this year, New Delhi is acutely conscious of the need to keep Ahmadinejad's nation in good humour. Indeed it can be nobody's case that isolation and military threats can in any way divert Iran from its nuclear energy programme. Also, the IAEA itself has not confirmed Western fears about Iran pursuing a nuclear arms programme. It would therefore help not to equate Iran with the hermetic North Korea -- a mistake the US repeatedly makes -- because isolation has only strengthened the North's determination to evolve into a dangerous nuclear threat beyond the pale of reason.

New Delhi must therefore put its best foot forward when Ahmadinejad arrives here on his maiden visit since he became President. For India, the most overwhelming concern in doing business with a country like Iran is energy security. At the core of such a partnership lies the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline that has been under American pressure since its inception, with the US having threatened to impose sanctions on any Indian oil company that does business with Iran. Only last year, Essar shied away from setting up an oil refinery in Iran in fear of violating US sanctions. Although ONGC is currently in discussion with Iran on developing oil and gas fields, American heat on Iran's alleged nuclear weapons programme has kept India edgy. It is for no other reason that India has been avoiding trilateral meetings on the IPI since last year, a project that could pump 60 million cubic metres of gas daily into the subcontinent. This, owing to the Americans' unsubstantiated fears that the revenue Iran earns from this pipeline will be diverted to its clandestine nuclear weaponisation.

To that extent, the US has been pushing the alternative Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline, a project for which Indian Petroleum Minister Murli Deora is currently in Pakistan. This American-backed project is essentially to keep Iran out of entering into what could be an extremely lucrative partnership for that country with energy-starved India and Pakistan. It is no secret that the US sees a huge window of revenue-generating opportunity for itself through the 1,680 km long TAPI pipeline, a US$3.5 billion project sponsored by the Asian Development Bank.

If energy is the name of the game, which indeed it is in this case, India would do well not to play along the American way alone. While Deora is in Pakistan to ink the TAPI project, Friday was also set aside for discussions with Pakistan on differences over transportation tariff and transport fee for the IPI project, an issue that New Delhi has hitherto cited as reason for going slow on the project. That the Americans are breathing down this project's neck however has been evident right from the outset. It is only to be hoped that Deora takes the IPI project further. Else, it will be India's loss because China is all set to take the plunge in case India backs out.

Despite having joined the international chorus against Iran at the IAEA, India now has a credible opportunity in Ahmadinejad's visit to assure Tehran of India's commitment to warm bilateral relations, a signal of which was duly posted to the Americans last Tuesday. Stung by the US's now familiar harangue on how to deal with Iran, India firmly outlined the exigencies of the region saying, "It is important that the genius of each nation living in a particular region is respected and allowed to flower to meet the expectations of enriching relations with neighbours." Clearly, India has set the ground rules, both for Iran and for the US. They must, however, not remain mere diplomatic platitudes.