Unocal Forms Consortium to Build Pipeline

El Segundo, Calif.-based Unocal Corp. has formed a multinational consortium to build a $2-billion natural gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to Pakistan, but the future of the project remains shaky. The pipeline must go through Afghanistan, and construction is all but impossible while fighting continues there. Also, the consortium agreement signed in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan’s capital, over the weekend was formed without Afghanistan’s participation, Unocal spokesman Richard Keller said in Islamabad, Pakistan. The consortium, led by Unocal, includes the government of Turkmenistan, Saudi Arabia’s Delta Petroleum Corp., Russia’s Gazprom gas monopoly, as well as several Asian companies. Under the agreement, construction of the pipeline--at least 600 miles long--is to start early next year. However, the government said it was negotiating a pipeline deal with Argentina’s Bridas as well. Turkmenistan, a former Soviet republic on the Caspian Sea, is extremely poor but has rich gas deposits and is anxious to find reliable export routes.