Pak Delegation Due In Tehran To Discuss Gas Pipeline

Tehran, Oct 19, IRNA – A Pakistani delegation is to visit Iran in a near future to discuss completion of Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline, said a statement issued by Iran's Ministry of Oil on Sunday. "Tehran and Islamabad have no plan to cancel their gas export deal," said the statement while rejecting a recent report claiming Iran had unilaterally ended the government-to-government cooperation agreement with Pakistan. The claim was made by the Pakistani Daily Times news website. "None of the two sides is willing to unilaterally end the agreement despite certain problems and disagreements on implementation of the project," said the statement. It added that the two capitals were determined to complete the project. Iran completed construction of its own section in July 2011. The Iran–Pakistan gas pipeline, also known as the Peace Pipeline, is an under construction project to deliver natural gas from Iran to Pakistan. Discussions between the governments of Iran and Pakistan started in 1994. A preliminary agreement was signed in 1995. This agreement foresaw construction of a pipeline from South Pars gas field to Karachi in Pakistan. The pipeline starts from Asalouyeh in Iran and stretches 1,172 kilometers (728 mi) through the country. The Iranian section is known as Iran's seventh cross-country gas pipeline. According to an agreement, signed by Tehran and Islamabad in 2010, each country has to complete its section of the project by 2014. Pakistani officials have recently announced that in order to finish construction operation of the remaining 780 km of the pipeline, they need Iran's two-billion-dollar investment. Iran, however, said it had no commitment to finance implementation of the project by Pakistan and the latter should finish the project on its own. In a failed attempt, Islamabad tried to attract Chinese investors to finance the venture but the Chinese side could not join the project as it could then face US tough pressures. If Pakistan fails to fulfill its obligation to complete the pipeline on its soil by the end of 2014, it will have to pay a daily fine of $8 million to Iran until completion of the project. Signals coming from Islamabad have indicated that the Pakistani side is not capable of accomplishing its commitments until December 2014./end