Tehran, Iran, Dec.15
Trend:
Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh has announced that Iraq imports 50 million cubic meters of gas per day from Iran, for its power plants, Trend reports citing ILNA.
Meanwhile, Washington is seeking to roll back Iranian influence in the Middle East, including in neighboring Iraq, where Tehran has close political and economic ties.
US Energy Secretary Rick Perry visited Baghdad on Tuesday to urge Iraqi energy officials to reduce reliance on Iranian gas to run its power grid. Iraq could also see a significant investment from the United States to build some of the energy infrastructure necessary to wean itself off Iranian gas.
Referring to the implementation of the gas pipeline plan from Iran to Pakistan, Bijan Zanganeh added that the Islamic Republic of Iran has spent more than $1 billion on this project, while Pakistan has not even built one kilometer of the pipeline.
“Although Pakistan needs Iranian gas, it is under pressure from the United States, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates,” Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said.
Near 20 years after the initiation of talks over the peace gas pipeline, beginning as the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project, and despite the fact that Iran has completed its part of the pipeline in its territory, Pakistan has fallen behind the target to take delivery of gas, initially scheduled for 2014.
The IP pipeline, would cover a distance of 1,900 kilometers, initially it would bring 750 million cubic feet of gas per day, which could later be increased to one billion cubic feet per day.