No US influence on Iran-Pak-India pipeline project

New Delhi, May 3: The Government today clarified in the Lok Sabha that there was no external pressure or influence from the US for dissociating itself from the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project.

Replying during the question hour, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora said the US legal position on this issue flows from its Iran-Libya Sanctions Act (ILSA) of 1996 that provides for the imposition of sanctions against foreign companies that make an investment of more than 20 million US dollar in one year in Iran's energy sector.

The Government is pursuing the import of natural gas from Iran in national interest to meet the energy requirements of the country.

He said during the recent meeting with Mr Samuel W Bodman, US Secretary of Energy, he was informed that India was free to pursue its energy option with the country and could act independently towards its interest.

Mr Deora said India is pursuing import of natural gas from Iran through IPI gas pipeline project. Two secretary-level Joint Working Groups (JWG) have been constituted for discussing the various issues involved.

Four India-Pakistan JWG meetings and three India-Iran Special JWG meetings have been held so far. Subsequently, the issues are being discussed in the trilateral Iran, Pakistan and India JWG meetings.

The fourth tripartite meeting of JWG was held at Tehran on January 24-25, this year. The gas price formulation at the Iran-Pakistan border was agreed between Iran and Pakistan, subject to approval by their respective Government.

India was required to indicate acceptance in four weeks time.

Suitable communication has been sent to Iran on February 28, 2007, the minister informed.

He said it was also decided to hold further discussions on the subject matter. The technical subgroup meeting between Pakistan and India was held at Delhi on March 22 and 23. Discussions were held on the technical issues, transit fee and transportation cost. It was also decided to hold the JWG meeting to continue the discussions.

The Minister said the total cost of this 2135 km gas pipeline project is expected to cost around 7 billion US dollar and India's part in the investment is yet to be worked out, he added.

Responding to another question, Mr Deora said the Petroleum Ministry has directed oil companies to market 5 per cent ethanol blended petrol (EBP), subject to commercial viability and as per Bureau of Indian Standards specifications. He said the Ministry's notification covered 20 states and four union territories.

UNI