NEW DELHI, 29 December 2005 — India and Iran began a new round of talks yesterday to expedite a $7.2-billion Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project, officials said.
Iran’s Deputy Oil Minister for International Affairs Mohammad Hadi Nejad-Hosseinian and Indian Petroleum Secretary S.C. Tripathi, were leading the two days of discussions in the Indian capital.
“They will be discussing all aspects relating to the pipeline — the quantity of gas, the quality and prices and the route,” said the senior official.
Fuel-import dependent India has been racing to secure fuel supplies abroad to keep its economy expanding strongly. Its daily gas demand totals 170 million cubic meters but it can produce only half that amount and expects its needs to rise sharply.
Joint working groups (JWGs) from Iran Pakistan and India will meet for the first time in February 2006 in Tehran. Till now, the three countries have met on bilateral levels to discuss the project.
India, Pakistan and Iran, which has the world’s second-biggest natural gas reserves, have said they hope to conclude a deal by June 2006. The Indian official said the deadline still held.
India has said construction of the pipeline should start in 2007 and be operational by 2011.
The talks will also look at the financing of the pipeline, the official said. The pipeline will run through Pakistan’s Balochistan province, site of a tribal insurgency.
India has said strong security guarantees are needed for the project to get financing. The tri-nation project will be financed through a $3 billion equity contribution and debt of $4 billion, Indian media reports have said.
The Indian government issued a statement on the eve of the talks Tuesday saying it had been “watching with concern the spiraling violence in Balochistan and the heavy military action” by Pakistan to quell it.
