Pak, Iran leave India in the cold, sign oil deal

Economic Times:

In an apparent bid to push India out of the proposed tri-nation gas pipeline project, Pakistan and Iran have agreed to lay a bilateral gas pipeline with 33% higher supplies to Islamabad. The agreement would make it difficult for India to remain a part of the multi-billion dollar tri-nation Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas project due to capacity constraints.

Pakistan increased its offtake of gas from the pipeline from 2.1bn cubic feet per day (bcfd) to 2.8 bcfd, making it difficult for the pipeline to accommodate India’s demand as the capacity of the proposed 2,600-km long pipeline is only 3.2 bcfd. READ MORE

In view of this, Iranian deputy oil minister, Hadi Nejad Hosseinian and Pakistan’s petroleum secretary, Ahmad Waqar said at a joint press conference on Sunday that India could be accommodated through the second pipeline if it was interested in going ahead with the IPI. “Iran agreed to enhance offtake volumes for Pakistan from 2.1 bcfd to 2.8 bcfd in case the project is implemented bilaterally,” the joint statement issued at the end of the three-day talks said.

While the remaining one third was to go to Pakistan. In the past the three sides have considered the option of laying a 56-inch pipeline with a capacity to carry 150m standard cubic meters of natural gas from Persian Gulf everyday to Pakistan and India.

“Iran agreed to enhance offtake volumes for Pakistan from 2.1 bcfd to 2.8 bcfd in case the project is implemented bilaterally,” the joint statement issued at the end of the three-day talks said.