Afghanistan Oil Pipeline

Afghanistan Oil Pipeline
Location
Country	Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan
From	Türkmenabat
Passes through	Afghanistan
To	Pakistan's Arabian Sea Coast
Runs alongside	Trans-Afghanistan Gas Pipeline
General information
Type	oil
Owner	Unocal Corporation
Technical information
Length	1,000 mi (1,600 km)
Maximum discharge	1 Mbbl/d (~5.0×10^7 t/a)

The Afghanistan Oil Pipeline was a project proposed by several oil companies to transport oil from Azerbaijan and Central Asia through Afghanistan to Pakistan or India.

Central Asian Oil Pipeline Project

At the end of 1990s, the American Unocal Corporation considered in addition to the Trans-Afghanistan Gas Pipeline building also a 1,000 miles (1,600 km) long 1,000,000 barrels per day (~5.0×10^⁷ t/a) oil pipeline to link Türkmenabat (former Chardzou), Turkmenistan to Pakistan's Arabian Sea Coast. Through the Omsk (Russia) – Pavlodar (Kasakhstan) – Shymkent – Türkmenabat pipeline, it would provide a possible alternative export route for regional oil production from the Caspian Sea. The pipeline was expected to cost US$2.5 billion. However, due to political and security instability, this project was dismissed.

Disputed theory

Some critics have proposed that the real motive for invading Afghanistan was its importance as a conduit for oil pipelines from Azerbaijan to Afghanistan's neighboring countries. Others have argued that the pipeline was not a significant reason for the invasion of Afghanistan, firstly because most western governments and oil companies prefer an export route from the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan and Georgia and on to the Black Sea over one through Afghanistan. Bypassing Russia and Iran would break their collective monopoly on regional energy supplies.

See also

• Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline