Pakistan, Iran finally sign gas pipeline accord

May 25, 2009 by Infowars Ireland

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad shakes hands with his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari before convening for a trilateral summit in Tehran.

ISLAMABAD: After fourteen years of delayed negotiations over the Iran–Pakistan–India (IPI) gas pipeline project, Pakistan and Iran have finally signed the initial agreement in Tehran on Sunday.

The project, termed as the peace pipeline by officials from both countries, has been signed by President Zardari and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran on the sidelines of the tripartite summit on Afghanistan security in Tehran.

However, talking to the Iranian official news agency IRNA the Iran’s Oil Ministry had said that negotiations on the ‘Peace Pipeline’ project were still underway between Iranian and the Pakistani delegations, which would allow Iran’s gas to be exported to Pakistan.

The Pakistani delegation negotiating the project was led by the advisor to the prime Minister on Petroleum Dr Asim Hussain, who is accompanied by petroleum ministry officials and a technical team headed the managing director Inter State gas Systems (ISGC), Syed Hasan Nawab.

The ISGS is a semiautonomous body looking after Pakistani interests in the international gas pipeline projects to import gas from Iran and Turkmenistan.

The federal cabinet had earlier agreed to allow the import of one billion cubic feet of gas at the rate of 80 per cent of the price of crude oil.

‘The next phase was to sign the gas sales purchase agreement with Iran,’ member of the delegation told Dawn.

Official sources said that soon after signing of the gas sales purchase agreement work would start at the designing of the project.

‘Pakistan has already appointed a German designer is ‘ILF’ for the pipeline,’ petroleum ministry sources said, adding that the pipeline would enter Pakistan from its border near Gwader area to Nawabshah, which is the hub of gas pipelines in the country.

The IPI project was conceived in 1995 and after almost 13 years India finally decided to quit the project in 2008 despite a severe energy crises in that country. Pakistan is also facing severe criticism from the US over any kind of economic deal with Iran.

Official sources say that the sudden change of stance from the Pakistani government and the pace of developments at the project suggest that the strong US opposition has softened.

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