Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr.19
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: Iran and India started a new round of oil, gas, and petrochemical talks in Tehran.
A high-ranking Indian delegation, headed by Shri Ashutosh Jindal, the director of Indian Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, will discuss the possibility of investing in a number of petrochemical plants in Iran's Assalouyeh and Chabahar regions, Iran's Mehr news agency reported on April 19.
Increasing oil imports from Iran, investment in Iran's energy sector, as well as the establishment of a deep sea gas pipeline to transfer Iran's natural gas to India, are among the issues expected be discussed in the meeting.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in January that India is keen to help develop the strategic Iranian port of Chabahar, seen by India as offering an alternative route to landlocked Afghanistan and resource-rich central Asian countries.
India is Iran's second biggest oil client after China. India's oil imports from Iran relatively decreased in recent years as a result of sanctions imposed Tehran by Western countries over Tehran's nuclear program.