Iran on Tuesday indicated that it may be willing to change the delivery point of gas it wants to sell to India through a pipeline passing through Pakistan, but wanted New Delhi and Islamabad to decide quickly on the $7.4 billion project."We are open to suggestions (on the delivery point)... we can accommodate them," Iranian Oil Minister Gholam-Hossein Nozari after meeting India's Petroleum Minister Murli Deora on the sidelines of the 19th World Petroleum Congress in New Delhi.
New Delhi wants the delivery point or handing over custody of gas at the India-Pakistan border and not at Iran-Pakistan border, as had been suggested by Tehran, to cut transit risk through Pakistan.
Deora said India wants Iran to hand over the custody of the gas at India-Pakistan border for which it will open bilateral dialogue. If Iran's stated position was accepted, the issue of ownership of gas while transiting through Pakistan has to be addressed and settled.
"I am happy to learn that India and Pakistan have settled their outstanding issues. We now hope the two nations will decide fast and conclude contracts," Nozari said, indicating that the three sides may meet soon.
India had been boycotting Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline talks since August 2007 over transit fee demanded by Pakistan for passage of gas through that country.
Differences between the two nations were narrowed at a meeting of oil ministers in Islamabad in April when Pakistan proposed a transit fee of $200 million per year which is equivalent to $0.60 per mmBtu for the entire stretch of pipeline in Pakistan.
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