Iran agrees to raise gas export

Sources said that this development took place during the recent visit of President Asif Ali Zardari and some key federal ministers including Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Dr Asim Hussain to Iran. Pakistan is in dire need of gas and electricity and had been in talks with various countries to import to meet the crunching national needs as the energy shortages have worsened over the recent years.
However, sources were upbeat that IPI has emerged as a glimmer of hope to overcome the energy shortage due to gap in demand and supply by utilizing regional resources, sources said. “In the meeting held between Iran, Pakistan oil ministers, the volume of Iran gas export to Pakistan which was supposed to be 21.5 mcm/day as of 2014 was planned to rise to 30 mcm/day,” sources privy to the development informed.
“Iran is willing to export as much as 60 million cubic meters of gas to Pakistan every day until 2020, sources added.
The deal is part of the long-delayed $7.5 billion Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project. The capacity of Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline was 110 million cubic meters. Around 1,100 kilometers of the pipeline is planned to be built in Iran, while the remaining 1,000 kilometers will be in Pakistan. Both sides in President Asif Ali Zardari’s recent visit to Iran, said sources, agreed to form a joint committee to boost cooperation in different domains. They also discussed cooperation in fields of crude oil, the establishment of oil refineries, increasing oil products to Pakistan and building gas pipelines between the two countries.
It is testimony of the fact that US has been opposing Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline as part of Washington’s nuclear-related sanctions against Teheran. India seems to have quit the project for its own reasons and allegedly buckled under US pressure. But Teheran and Islamabad, alone, appear steadfast in going ahead with the pipeline. On security concerns, India had proposed an alternative offshore route from Iran to the maritime boundary between India and Pakistan off Kutch. From there, one branch to run to Pakistan while the other branch could run to Kutch, sources told.