Iran, Pakistan to seal gas pipeline deal tomorrow

Tehran, Jun.7 (ANI): Iran and Pakistan are likely to finalise all formalities regarding the much delayed seven billion dollar gas pipeline project on Tuesday (June 8).

Deputy director (investment) of the National Iran Oil Company (NIOC) Hojjatollah Qanimifard said officials of both countries would be meeting here tomorrow during which they would handing over letters of approval regarding the project to each other.

"The seven billion dollars Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline contract would be finalised this week, and based on the approved time framework, the export of gas to Pakistan would be launched by the end of 2015," The Daily Times quoted Qanimifard, as saying.

"In a meeting in Tehran on Tuesday (tomorrow), the final approval would be delivered to officials in Pakistan and their letter of guarantee would be received," he added.

The pipeline will connect the South Fars gas field of Iran, which has the world's second-largest gas reserves after Russia, with Balochistan and Sindh.

Out of the total 7.6 billion dollars, which would be incurred on the project, Pakistan expects to spend 1.65 billion dollars.

Earlier, the said pipeline was to be extended to India also, but it backed out of the project, as Pakistan refused to forego its demand for a hefty gas transit fee.

The Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) project was conceived in 1995 and after almost 13 years India finally decided to quit the project in 2008. (ANI)