Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 8
By Emil Ilgar - Trend:
India's Oil and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan will unlikely touch upon the revival of the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline during his visit to Tehran, ISNA quoted Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh as saying Apr. 8.
Pradhan will be in Tehran on Apr. 9-10 to discuss the expansion of energy cooperation during the post-sanctions era.
The Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project, also known as the Peace pipeline, had been discussed among its participants for more than a decade, but India withdrew from it, while Pakistan and Iran signed an agreement in 2013.
According to the agreement, Pakistan should have imported 22 million cubic meters per day of gas from Iran from early 2015, but it hasn't started the construction of a pipeline on its soil yet.
Earlier, Indian media reported that the country is keen to import Iranian gas via a seabed pipeline instead of the Peace pipeline.
India Times reported on Apr. 6 that Pradhan's agenda includes an undersea gas pipeline between India and Iran, and the purchase of additional crude oil from Iran.
The $4.5 billion seabed pipeline, with 31.5 million cubic meters per day of gas transit capacity, was proposed by India during the last years.