Pakistan Stresses Resolve To Pursue IP Gas Project With Iran

Islamabad has reiterated its determination to cooperate with Iran’s energy sector and pursue Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline project with the Islamic republic, Press TV reports.

Speaking at a weekly news briefing on Friday, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Moazzam Ahmad Khan, said ongoing talks between Islamabad and Washington for cooperation in the field of energy would not affect the country’s joint gas pipeline project with Iran.

The Pakistani government is determined to complete the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project before 2014 and other energy projects with the US having nothing to do with them, the spokesman stated.

Ahmad Khan dismissed reports that the United States plans to invest USD 280 million in Pakistan’s power sector in return for Islamabad’s commitment not to pursue the multi-billion-dollar deal with Iran.

The Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline, projected to cost USD 1.2-1.5 billion, is aimed to export a daily amount of 21.5 million cubic meters of Iranian natural gas to Pakistan.

Maximum daily gas transfer capacity of the 56-inch pipeline — which runs over 900 kilometers from Iran’s southern port city of Asalouyeh in Bushehr Province to the city of Iranshahr in Sistan and Baluchestan Province — is estimated to hit 110 million cubic meters.

Iran has already constructed more than 900 kilometers of the pipeline on its soil.

Presstv