The Indian government has once again shown interest in the Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline project, while in 2009 it was reluctant to be part of the project due to American pressure, officials told Business Recorder on Friday. Sources in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources said that India once again is willing to take part in the Iranian gas pipeline project.
They said that Indian economy is registering a high growth and attracting huge foreign investment, while the country is facing energy shortage to meet the increasing demand. Hence, the Indian government is seriously considering to become partner in the project.
Iranian Foreign Minister Dr Ali Akbar Salehi on Thursday, while addressing a joint press conference with Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, said that the Iranian part of the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline will be completed by the middle of next year.
Sources said that India had never completely left the project, and added that India has strong relations with Iran, and it kept on talking on the project with Iran. India is an energy-deficient country and to sustain high growth rate and ensure energy security, it needs energy from every possible source and is seriously considering of importing gas from Iran, they added.
When BR contacted an official of Indian Embassy in Islamabad, he said that he was unable to comment on the issue, adding that he did not know anything in this regard at the moment. "As far as Pakistan is concerned, we are committed to complete the project by the end of 2014 as we are facing severe energy shortage and our main industry textile has started shifting to other countries due to energy crisis. The gas imported from Iran would be used for power generation to enable our industry to sustain and grow," a top official working on the project said.
Pakistani team working on the project would submit all the data and reports collected during the reconnaissance survey of the project to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources in the first week of October, officials said. According to officials at Ministry of Petroleum, National Engineering Services Pakistan (NESPAK) has completed the reconnaissance survey of the Pakistani side, while Iran has almost completed work on the pipeline on Iranian side.
Pakistan will import 750 million cubic feet of gas daily for 25 years from Iran, according to the terms of the agreement. The pipeline will facilitate transfer of natural gas from Iran's biggest gas field in South Pars to Pakistan through the south-western Balochistan province.
Pakistan currently is facing severe gas and power shortage, while the government is managing the crises through gas and power load management plans as well as increasing the prices of utilities. Currently government has declared two and half day per week suspension in supply of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) in Punjab and two days in Sindh.
All the data would be compiled and report to the Ministry shall be submitted in October, showing the final route corridor, said an expert working on IP. He said that the NESPAK team has returned after completing the reconnaissance survey of the pipeline on Pakistani side.
"Nespak team of experts has arrived back to Lahore after successfully completing the reconnaissance survey of 800 Km pipeline route. The team has demarcated the possible corridor in which the detailed topographic survey would commence in October this year. In addition to this, Geotechnical investigations for soil and rock would also commence parallely, the official added.