Unocal Corporation
In the 1990s, the American Unocal Corporation considered building a oil pipeline to link Turkmenistan's Türkmenabat (former Chardzou) to India along the Arabian Sea, providing a possible alternative export route to the Omsk (Russia) – Pavlodar (Kasakhstan) – Shymkent – Türkmenabat Pipeline. The pipeline was expected to cost US$2.5 billion. However, due to political and security instability at that time, the project was put on hold. But, the plan was later revived after the United States-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.