ONGC to liquefy gas from Sakhalin

New Delhi, July 21 (UNI) Procuring gas from Iran becoming a distant possibility, the country's leading oil explorer, ONGC today said it is interested in liquefying LNG from Sakhaklin-1 project in Russia where it has a stake, and would ship the fuel to India to channelise it mainly for the energy strapped Dabhol plant.

ONGC is also in talks with Shell to use its liquefication facility in Sakhalin-2 and meeting to this effect from both the companies will be held soon, sources say.

ONGC has 20 percent share through its overseas arm ONGC Videsh Limited in Sakhalin-1 which has more than 2.3 billion barrels of oil as reserves and 485 billion cubic feet of gas.

The project is currently operated by US major Exxon Mobil.

OVL has been expanding its presence globally by aquiring energy assets in Sudan, Vietnam and Russia to meet rising demand at home.

India is also in talks with Iran, Turkmenistan and Myanmar to bring in gas.

Meanwhile the 7-billion dollar Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project has hit a roadblock over pricing formula.

Oil secretaries of Iran and India will meet here next week, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora had said.

The meeting will try to redress India's price formula, which Iran had earlier rejected.

The pipeline project scheduled to deliver the fuel to South Asian countries including India hit a roadblock with Iran rejecting the price set by India.

The news agency PIN of the Iranian Oil Ministry, quoted Iran Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh who termed the Indian offer as based on ''subsidised domestic prices''.

He said Teheran will not sell its gas at the proposed price.

Iran is asking for at least 7.2 dollars per mmbtu while New Delhi has quoted a price of 4.2 dollars per mmbtu for the gas delivered at its border. Tehran's price is also subject to a three per cent annual escalation.

The statement comes in close to the Teheran meet, where oil secretaries of the three countries-- Iran, Pakistan and India will meet on August 3-4. The Secretary level talks would be followed by a meeting of energy ministers of the three countries in Tehran to finalise modalities for implementation of the project.

''If the Indian side is not ready to buy our gas at its real price, we have no obligation to sell it at the price lower than the real one,'' Mr Vaziri-Hemaneh was quoted in the PIN.

The main agenda of the Oil secretaries meet at Teheran is to resolve the impasse over pricing of natural gas that Teheran wants to sell to India and south Asian countries.

The last meeting of oil secretaries of the three countries in Islamabad on May 22 and 23 broke off after Iran sought a price linked to international crude oil for the natural gas it wants to sell to India and Pakistan.

Iran's gas pricing formula is linked to Brent crude oil with a fixed escalating cost component (10 per cent of Brent crude oil).

The price is more than 50 per cent above the prevailing market- determined gas price in India, according to Indian officials.

India wants to import 90 million standard cubic meters of gas per day (mmscmd) from Iran through the 2,100 km-long pipeline while Pakistan has indicated a requirement of up to 60 mmscmd.

Apart from the Brent linkage, the Iranian formula does not prescribe a ceiling for the gas price. New Delhi has opposed to this formula and even Pakistan is understood to have rejected it.

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