Turkmenistan's Gas Exports to Pakistan; The 'Gas Dream' of Iran in Ruins

Pakistan has begun importing its gas needs from Turkmenistan via Afghanistan. This gas import from Turkmenistan by Pakistan comes at a time when it was once expected that the 'Peace Pipeline' would supply gas to both Pakistan and India. According to Iranian media reports, Mohammad Younes Mohmand, a member of the board of directors of Afghanistan's commerce and investment, announced that the land route through Afghanistan is much shorter than the route previously used by the company through Iran. Experts say that gas exports to Pakistan are one of the attractive opportunities in the regional energy market, which Iran was also seeking to capture a maximum share of. In this context, gas competitors have outpaced Iran, and while the gas transmission pipeline by Iran was constructed up to the Pakistan border, last September, the Russian Deputy Prime Minister announced a preliminary agreement between Putin and Shahbaz Sharif regarding the construction of a gas pipeline between Russia and Pakistan. Alexander Novak stated that the leaders of the two countries reviewed the conditions for constructing the Russia-Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan gas pipeline and also examined its security guarantees. This action by Pakistan officially shelved the Islamic Republic's 30-year dream of exporting gas to India and Pakistan, marking the end of a project pursued since the 1990s after significant expenses incurred by Iran. Moreover, prior to the Russian contract with Pakistan, Pakistani officials had deemed the execution of the contract with Iran as 'impossible.' In this regard, in the summer of 2019, the 'Arab News' website quoted Mobin Soulat, the CEO of 'Inter State Gas Systems' of Pakistan, stating, 'Under the current U.S. sanctions against Iran, the implementation of the gas pipeline project with Iran is impossible, and we have formally notified Tehran of its cancellation.' Following this event, Iran threatened to sue Pakistan for compensation, as according to the penalty clause of the contract, Pakistan was obligated to pay Iran one million dollars daily since January 1, 2015, due to the failure to execute the contract and complete its pipeline, but to date, no specific information has been provided in this regard. Iran has also been deprived of the eastern gas market, as Pakistan is aligning with the Russians.