India and Pakistan on Wednesday agreed in-principle to have a uniform transit fee for ferrying natural gas through the proposed 7.6 billion US Dollars pipeline from Turkmenistan . A statement issued by the Indian side after a meeting in New Delhi between Petroleum Minister S. Jaipal Reddy and visiting Pakistani Oil Minister Asim Hussain said, India will pay a transit fee to Pakistan and Afghanistan for getting its share of 38 million standard cubic metres per day of gas through the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline, while Islamabad has to pay ferrying charges only to Afghanistan for allowing passage of the fuel.
In a joint press conference later, Mr. Reddy said, there can't be one transit fee for India and Afghanistan and another for Pakistan and Afghanistan and it should be the same in-principle. He also allayed security concerns over the project. Echoing similar views, Pakistani Oil Minister Hussain said, it is between the three countries Afghanistan , Pakistan and India to agree to uniform tariff. He said, it is subject to the approval of competent authorities in both the governments.
The Pakistan Oil Minister, however, added that the formula to fix the transit fee has not yet been arrived at so far and both the sides will sit together to resolve the issues. An official statement issued later said, both sides agreed to settle the transit fee issue at the earliest, as there is a need to expedite the signing of a gas sales purchase agreement for the project.
Both sides also agreed in-principle to jointly explore opportunities in Turkmenistan 's upstream oil sector.
AIR correspondent reports that the 1,735-km-long pipeline will run from Turkmenistan 's Yoloten-Osman gas field to Herat and Kandahar province of Afghanistan , before entering Pakistan . In Pakistan , it will reach Multan via Quetta before ending at Fazilka ( Punjab ) in India . The TAPI project envisages a total throughput of 90 million standard cubic metres per day (MSCMD) of gas, of which India is expected to receive 38 MSCMD after it, becomes operational.
