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Urgent News:
Methanol and Electricity Generation System Using Flare’s Surplus Gases
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Trilateral Gas Meeting Convenes in Tehran |
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Author : E’temad Melli Newspaper
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New hopes are arising that the fate of peace pipeline will be determined soon. The project has been marginalized over the past few months due to opposition from western countries. In fact representatives from India and Pakistan are to hold the first meeting of their joint working committee in Tehran and draw up draft of a trilateral cooperation agreement. Experts believe that the meeting will be a common ground for consensus among three oil ministers.
Many problems led to the current situation of the project, and involved countries are expected to take the first steps toward implementation of the project, which is 7 billion dollars worth and will span a period of 30 years. Due to increasing energy demand in India and Pakistan due to rapid economic growth of those countries, India is willing to import 60-90 million cu. m. gas from Iran while Pakistan has asked for daily import of 30-60 million cu. m. gas through the peace pipeline.
According to initial agreements, the year 2010 has been designated as date of completion of the project and its implementation is to start in 2007. Due to long delays in implementation of the project, those dates may change. Petroenergy Information Network believes that many reasons have worked to delay the project including price of Iran’s imported gas, political pressures from west and the United States and Iran’s nuclear standoff.
The first proposal for building such a pipeline from Iran to Pakistan was offered in early 1990s. Afterwards, speculations focused on continuation of Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline toward India. However, due to political discrepancies between India and Pakistan, the project was mothballed and studies focused on possibility of building an undersea pipeline, which needed much more time and expenses. The studies showed that the most economic route was the 1,110 km pipeline which was to run from Iran to India through Pakistan to both supply them with needed energy and convey Iran’s friendship message to Islamabad and New Delhi.
Therefore, three countries restarted talks about frame of the project and gas price. However, due to escalating international pressures about Iran’s nuclear dossier, it was used as a pretext to US officials declared their all-out opposition to the gas pipeline project. However, due to high demand for energy in Pakistan and India, and their interest in cooperating with Iran, stance of the American officials was softened and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced that her country has communicated its concern about the project to Pakistan and India while understanding their need to energy.
The new Indian minister of petroleum also declared that his country’s policy with regard to building Iran’s gas pipeline has not changed while Pakistani prime minister stated that the pipeline will play a major role in progress and friendship of three countries. Also, Indian prime minister and Pakistan’s minister of petroleum have agreed that the project is of utmost importance for their countries because it not only encompasses economic interests of Iran, Pakistan and India; but also will bring three countries close together.
Therefore, emphasize put by India and Pakistan on their need to receiving fossil fuel up to the next 25 years and even announcement by Pakistan that it would go on with the project even if India withdrew, cause a turnabout in US stance regarding the project. During his recent trip to Pakistan, President George Bush announced that he is not against construction of gas export pipeline from Iran to Pakistan and India because he has grasped the two countries need to natural gas and the United States sees no objection to the implementation of the project. Therefore, in the light of the recent developments, it seems that the current standstill governing this huge economic project will come to an end in the near future and its implementation will take on more speed. Further steps in this regard, include determining price of export gas as well as Iran’s proposal in this regard. Iran insists that gas price should be determined in transparent way to reflect actual gas price in the world.
Price of Iran’s exported gas to India has been a matter of controversy between the two countries. A 4-dollar difference on price of every BTU of natural gas has marked every joint meeting between working groups of the two countries. Iran is asking for a steering committee to take charge of the project and has communicated this request to India and Pakistan. The two countries have reacted positively to Iran’s request and the steering committee will probably be set up comprising ministers and officials from three involved countries to oversee implementation of the project.
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Date: 2006-03-25 | Viewed: 4478
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