The Union Cabinet has approved the proposal of the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas to permit GAIL to sign the Gas Sale & Purchase Agreement, GSPA, with Turrnen Gas, Turkmenistan's national oil company, for the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India, TAPI Gas Pipeline Project.

The Pipeline is expected to be operational in 2018 and supply gas over a period of 30 years.

The provisions of the GSPA have been structured to protect India's commercial interests as India is at the tail end of the pipeline.

Afghanistan and Pakistan have committed to the safety and security of the pipeline through the Inter-Governmental Agreement and the Gas Purchase Framework Agreement signed among the four countries in December, 2010.