No security problem threats Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline: Iranian official

TEHRAN,Nov.8 (MNA) -- No security problem threats the proposed Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project, the Iranian deputy interior minister Ali Abdollahi said. The ministry of oil should follow up for finishing the project and establishing the pipeline as soon as possible, he told . Earlier, Iran's Ambassador to Islamabad Mashallah Shakeri said the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline will help Islamabad tackle its energy crisis and will revolutionize the Pakistani industry. The multi-billion-dollar Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline deal, which was signed in June 2010, aims to export an annual amount of up to 21 million cubic meters of natural gas to Pakistan. The project was originally known as the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) pipeline project. Iran, India and Pakistan held tripartite negotiations over the project, which was also known as 'The Peace Pipeline,' until New Delhi's vacillation caused Tehran and Islamabad to continue talks bilaterally. New Delhi finally left the trilateral talks over disagreements with Islamabad on issues such as the fee Pakistan would charge India for the gas transit. In October 2007, Iran and Pakistan began a new round of talks in Tehran, where the details of the deal were finalized. Iran has already constructed more than 900 kilometers of the pipeline on its soil. Meanwhile, Pakistan's deputy interior minister for security affairs Siddique Akbar told Iran's Mehr News Agency that the pipeline project had the full support of Islamabad. Pakistan's Minister of Oil and Natural Resources Asim Hussain announced on October 28 that the pipeline would be finished before the end of 2013, one year ahead of the original schedule. He added that Pakistan would rapidly build its share of the pipeline and two gas compression stations along its southern coastal highway. The multi-billion-dollar Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline deal, which was signed in June 2010, aims to export a daily amount of 21.5 million cubic meters (or 8.7 billion cubic meters per year) of Iranian natural gas to Pakistan. The maximum daily gas transfer capacity of the 56-inch pipeline which runs over 900 km of Iran's soil from Asalouyeh in Bushehr Province to the city of Iranshahr in Sistan and Baluchestan Province has been given at 110 million cubic meters. The project was originally known as the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) pipeline project. New Delhi left the trilateral talks over disagreements with Islamabad on issues such as the fee Pakistan would charge India for the gas transit. In October 2007, Iran and Pakistan began a new round of talks in Tehran, where the details of the deal were finalized. Iran has already constructed more than 900 kilometers of the pipeline on its soil.