Pakistani Petroleum Minister Syed Naveed Qamar addressing a press conference Monday said that Pakistan is in need of gas supplies from Iran.
He stated that the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline will supplement to Pakistan's future gas requirements which are rising by every passing day, SHANA news agency reported.
"We are currently facing a shortage of 2 billion cubic feet during the winter peak", he noted.
He said IP gas pipeline project is in an advanced stage as its pricing had been finalized.
Pakistan and Iran formally signed the historic pipeline deal on June 13, 2010 in Tehran under which Iran will supply Pakistan with natural gas from mid-2014.
Under the deal, Pakistan will import 750 million cubic feet of gas daily for 25 years.
The pipeline would connect Iran's South Pars gas field with Pakistan's Balochistan and Sindh provinces.
The pipeline was initially mooted to carry gas from Iran to Pakistan and on to India.
The negotiations have been going on for many years involving Iran, Pakistan and India. Iran's enormous gas reserves are ideally suited to supply massive amounts of gas to both Pakistan and India on long-term basis, thus helping ease the energy requirements of the two giant developing nations.
Iran, Pakistan, and India conceptualized the Peace Pipeline project in the 1990s, to help boost peace and security in the region.