Petroleum Minister Murli Deora would visit Pakistan early next month to sort out differences over transit fee for the $7 billion Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline.
"We need to make sure that the Iran pipleline project is economically viable. This project has a life of 40 years," Menon tol the media in Delhi. Menon confirmed that India was trying to re-negotiate the Liquefied Natural Gas project with Iran. The deal was first made in 2005, but India feels there could be renegotiation.
Iran had called a meeting of technical experts and lawyers from the three nations during September 24-26 to exchange views on the gas-supply contract that India and Pakistan, as consumers, would have to sign with fuel supplier Iran.
After a two-year lull, India has proposed to resume talks with Iran on importing gas through a pipeline passing through Pakistan, but the Persian Gulf state wants the meeting to happen in Tehran.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may have used a mix of charm and roguish coercion to let India know that he expected the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline proposal to become a reality in 45 days. But India is in no hurry to take a decision, a top Cabinet minister in the United Progressive Alliance government said. The volatile political environment in Iran and Pakistan has as much weightage now and the UPA government is becoming more reluctant.
Iran had called a meeting of technical experts and lawyers from the three nations during September 24-26 to exchange views on the gas-supply contract that India and Pakistan, as consumers, would have to sign with fuel supplier Iran.
India and Pakistan today began final round of discussions to resolve differences on the 7.4-billion dollar Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline before the three nations sign a deal next month.
India was fully on board and committed to take part in the $7 billion Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project, a senior official said.
Petroleum Minister Murli Deora met Iran's Deputy Minister for International Affairs H Noghrehkar Shirazi on the sidelines of the 12th International Energy Forum here to propose bilateral talks in May.
In a new twist to negotiations on the much-delayed Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline, Tehran wants legal immunity in case of armed conflict disrupting natural gas supplies through the proposed line.
India has missed yet another meeting on the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline last weekend as officials from Iran and Pakistan met in Teheran to discuss the revised project cost and a new pricing formula.
Petroleum Minister Murli Deora after a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Gholam Hosein Nozari for talks on the $7.5 billion Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline project said there were 'some minor problems' which have been sorted out.
Pakistan will also engage an international consultancy firm to conduct a feasibility study on its section of the project. The firm will carry out a feasibility study within Pakistan's borders and submit a report by the first quarter of next year, Dawn News channel reported on Thursday. Pakistan and Iran recently held two-day technical-level talks here on the gas purchase agreement and other legal aspects of the project.
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.
India's decision to join the Turkmenistan pipeline project which is more hazardous than the Iranian channel is puzzling.
"The Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project is one of the most important economic projects in the region, which will bring extensive benefits for the three countries," Ambassador Mashallah Shakeri said. Pointing out that the measures taken by Pakistan and Iran showed their "firm will" for executing the project, Shakeri told a local news agency that the bilateral agreement between the two countries will be finalised by January 25.
India on Friday expressed confidence that the work on the proposed $7-billion Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project would start by March next year as it is hopeful of finalising a transit fee agreement with Islamabad before that. India is confident of starting the 2775 km long IPI project by end of March 2008, M S Srinivasan, secretary, ministry of petroleum and natural gas, told reporters in Coimbatore.
Iran last week said it will by October-end sign a pact with Pakistan to sell gas through a bilateral pipeline in the absence of India joining the Iran-Pakistan-India gas line.
With New Delhi boycotting formal talks for almost three years, Iran and Pakistan this month signed last of a series of agreements for implementing the project on bilateral basis.
The over $7 billion Iran- Pakistan-India gas pipeline project has been found to be technically feasible but its economic viability will depend on the price at which Tehran sells the fuel, the Centre said on Tuesday.
India has asked Pakistan to waive the $200 million transit fee a year for allowing passage of a pipeline carrying natural gas from Iran.
India expects to finalise an agreement on the tri-nation pipeline that will bring natural gas from Iran via Pakistan by the middle of next month, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said on Wednesday.
Iran said it will not set any deadline for India to join the gas pipeline that also includes Pakistan and hoped New Delhi will not buckle under US pressure to dump the multi-billion dollar project for a rival pipeline from Turkmenistan. "We have not set any deadline (for India to join the IPI pipeline project)," Iranian Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari said on Thursday.
Pakistan and Iran are close to finalising a gas purchase agreement for the $7.4 billion (About Rs 29,200 crore) IPI pipeline during technical talks in Islamabad, even as officials said India's decision not to take part in the talks did not mean it had pulled out of the trilateral project.
Iran's energy counsellor in India Ainollah Souri says that Iran will send its gas all over the world, and it is up to India to decide whether it wants a share of it.
India, Pakistan agree on gas transport price.
While declining to give a time-frame for the implementation of the much-delayed IPI pipeline, Iran has said it could not wait much longer for India and Pakistan to agree on the tariffs payable by India to its neighbour for the gas passing through the pipeline.
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