Double Trouble at the TAPI Pipeline

Market	Country
	Turkmenistan/Afghanistan

All AV projects have logistical issues, solving these problems is a major part of an integrator’s skillset. For Alex Samokhin, founder and MD of Russian integrator Tribar Imagineering, this project in Turkmenistan and Afghanistan suffered logistical hurdles at every turn. Tribar had to plan and run two live events, on the same day, in two different countries. One country is one of the most remote in the world, and the other is one of the most war-ravaged in the world. In charge of all content, design, planning, installation and execution, Tribar also had to ensure heads of state were satisfied with the final result, and put it all together in less than two months, for an immovable deadline. This was no ordinary AV install.

The background to this project lies in the production of energy, gas to be precise, as Samokhin explains; “Turkmenistan has rich natural gas reserves. The problem is other countries with big reserves surround it, so it’s difficult for them to export it. Because of this the only direction they can sell it is via Afghanistan.” The TAPI pipeline, which began construction in December 2015, and will cost $9.6bn (€8.3bn) in total to build, will carry 33 billion cubic metres of gas a year from the Galkynysh gas field in Turkmenistan all the way to India. The pipeline takes it name from the four countries it runs through; Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.