After decades of delays the projected $7 billion Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India (TAPI) gas pipeline will likely make its final investment decision (FID) in the first half of 2019.

The TAPI pipeline will help energy-rich Turkmenistan diversity its gas exports and supply the booming energy markets of Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.

Muhammetmyrat Amanov, chief executive of the TAPI Pipeline company, told an industry conference in the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi that the cost of the pipeline had been reduced to $7 billion from an initial estimate of $10bn, and that its first stage could cost only $5bn. Amanov also noted that the final phase was being planned stage by stage in the remainder of the line and that the first gas could be delivered to Afghanistan within around a year from the FID, and to Pakistan within two years, he said.

The project has been supported by import/export credit agencies in Germany and Italy, he said, which will fund exports of equipment for the project from those countries. Other potential financiers for the deal include the Asian Development Bank and the Islamic Development Bank.