Posted on 06/02/2005 2:45:10 PM PDT by Crackingham
Indian Oil Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar is hopeful upcoming talks with Pakistan on a proposed route for a gas pipeline from Iran will lead to an agreement that attracts companies and finance for the multi-billion-dollar project. Aiyar will travel to Islamabad at the weekend to meet his counterpart Amanullah Khan Jadoon to discuss a proposed 2,775-kilometer energy corridor in Pakistan to deliver gas from Iran's South Pars field to the Indian border.
"If security and other issues are resolved with Pakistan, I would say construction could begin with all deliberate speed in three years," Aiyar told AFP.
"This could be an international consortium or other entity. We are only a customer right now, but security and other agreements will make this project viable for investors." Aiyar said from India's side, the actual construction of the pipeline would be the job of Iran and Pakistan. India's role would be to negotiate a price for the gas if the pipeline reaches its border.
"There are talks with Iran on pricing," Aiyar said declining to discuss specifics.
Aiyar's visit to Pakistan has already caught the attention of specialized law firms that negotiate major pipeline deals around the world, who note that these take years of complex legal and financial deals before construction begins.
"I would say the recent peace talks between India and Pakistan have moved this project up a few notches from the bottom of the list," said Samantha Hampshire, a London-based partner with the global project finance group of law firm Mayer, Brown, Rowe and Maw.
"These are enormously complicated projects because they cross several countries and involve hundreds of parties. Massive investment is required. But in energy circles, the fact that talks are going on and there is more stability in India-Pakistan relations means there is certainly more optimism a pipeline is possible."
Hampshire said if agreement is reached between the three countries, it would likely take five years before the "first shovel of dirt is turned." The proposed pipeline, estimated to cost $4 billion, comes against a background of improving relations between New Delhi and Islamabad.
But it would travel through Pakistan's lawless southwestern Baluchistan Province, which has been under a low-level tribal insurgency including attacks against existing gas pipelines in the region.
Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan, which have fought three wars, two over the Himalayan region of Kashmir, have been engaged in a slow-moving peace dialogue since January 2004.
"There are two sets of agreements. Iran and India have to agree on a price. Iran and Pakistan have to agree on building the pipeline. There could be a necessity for a tri-lateral meeting to outline the terms," Aiyar said.
An Iran-Pakistan-India oil pipeline...
Anybody care to pay the insurance premiums on THAT thing?
That makes about as much sense as our
running a pipe line from ANWAR to the US through
Iraq!
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