ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani delegation has arrived in Tehran to revive $7.6 billion Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project.
The delegation, headed by Oil Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, will hold talks with Iranian authorities on new proposals to continue the project. Inter-State Gas Systems Managing Director Mubeen Saulat is also part of the delegation.
Khaqan Abbasi is scheduled to meet with his Iranian counterpart Bijan Namdar Zanganeh to underline the need for increasing the trade transactions volume and enhancing ties between the two countries’ trade ministries and their interior ministries as well. They will also talk to increase the security of the borders to halt drug trafficking, illegal trespassing and activities of the terrorist groups.
Iran and Pakistan signed a pact on the construction of a gas pipeline in 1995. Later, Iran made a proposal to extend the pipeline from Pakistan into India. In February 1999, an agreement between Iran and India was also signed.
According to the agreement, Pakistan was to commission the project on December 2014 but was unable to start construction work on its portion of the pipeline due to threats of US sanctions. Iran has already built its 900-kilometer share of the pipeline on its own soil and is waiting for the 700-kilometer Pakistani side of the pipeline to be built.
As per the second proposal, Pakistan will offer an alternative plan of gas import by converting natural gas into Liquid Natural Gas (LNG). Under this plan, Iran would convert natural gas into LNG and then export it to Pakistan by using the terminal facility of Oman which has already signed a deal with Iran for the purchase of around $60 billion worth of natural gas over the next 25 years.
