Iran seeks early meeting on IPI project

New Delhi, Aug 11 (PTI) Iran has asked India and Pakistan
for an early trilateral meeting to finalise the long-delayed
Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project but New Delhi is
seeking to delay talks until its civil nuclear agreement with
the United States wins approval of the U.S. Congress next
month.

Iran has separately written to its potential gas buyers,
India and Pakistan, seeking dates possibly in August, for a
meeting of energy ministers from the three nations in Tehran
to sort out handful of remaining outstanding issue impeding
implementation of the USD 7.4 billion project, officials said.

Following the invitation, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora
met External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who visited
Tehran on July 29-30, to discuss the issue and the two are
believed to have agreed to suggest trilateral meeting dates
after the U.S. Congress approves the nuclear deal, they said.

After securing approval from the 45 nations that form the
Nuclear Suppliers Group, which governs trade in reactors and
uranium, the 123 Agreement has to be approved by the U.S.
Congress before it adjourns on September 26.

New Delhi does not want its business with Iran, a nation
U.S. accuses of harbouring nuclear weapon ambitions, to be
made an issue during the debate in U.S. Congress.

Interestingly, Tehran sought dates for the trilateral
meeting after submitting a non-paper that agreed to the latest
Indian demands for shifting of gas sale point, identification
of fields for gas supplies and the three nations taking stakes
in the project.

Officials said Iran in the non-paper submitted to the
Prime Minister's Office has agreed to shift delivery point of
the gas to India-Pakistan border instead of previously
envisaged Iran-Pakistan border to cut transit risks in
volatile Pakistan.

Shifting of delivery point was among the set of three
latest conditions New Delhi had put before proceeding on the
pipeline project.

The non-paper said that Tehran was prepared to look at a
trilateral arrangement for the delivery of gas at the
Pakistan-India border.

To the condition of identifying source of gas, Iran has
proposed to source the fuel from Phases 19, 20 and 21 of the
giant South Pars offshore gas field in the Persian Gulf and
said other phases can also be deployed for the project.

On Indian sides final contention to the three partner
countries jointly laying the 2,775-km pipeline as a means of
providing an additional layer of protection against wilful
disruption of gas supply, Iran has stated that suitable
arrangements can be examined.

However, Prime Minister's Special Envoy Shyam Saran had
recently cast doubts on the project when he said economic
viability needs to be studied in the light of extra insurance
costs and the fact that the pipeline will pass through areas
which are not stable.

The Iranian non-paper is Tehran's way of reinvigorating
the process, since New Delhi does not appear to be in a hurry
to schedule a meeting or resolve its concerns through
technical or political negotiations.

The Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline is to supply 60 million
standard cubic meters per day of gas to be split equally
between the consuming nations. PTI ANZ