Pakistan and iran are the two Islamic countries
having geographic and cultural value, Pakistan border meet iran at province Baluchistan,
Iran has it oil resources and gas resources, in the earlier to meet the
household need Pakistan want to purchase gas from Iran, Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline
project was conceived in early nineties. The gas is to be supplied from
Iran’s South Pars gas field and delivered at Pak-Iran border, near
Gawadar. The project is being implemented on a segmented approach whereby
each country shall be responsible for construction of pipeline in the
respective territory.
The
idea was conceived by a young Pakistani civil engineer Malik Aftab Ahmed Khan
in mid-1950s, when an article of his was published by the Military College of
Engineering, Risalpur. The article Persian
Pipeline also mentioned the
method for its protection along the hostile territory by establishing mini
battalion-size cantonments along its proposed route through Baluchistan/Sindh. The
project was conceptualized in 1989 by Rajendra K. Pachauri in partnership with Ali Shams Ardekani and Sarwar
Shar, former Deputy Foreign Minister of Iran. Pachauri proposed the plan to
both Iranian and Indian governments in . The government of Iran responded
positively to the proposal. At the 2012 annual conference of the International
Association of Energy Economics,
Ardekani backed Pachauri's proposal.
Intergovernmental Framework Declaration (IGFD) on the
project was signed by President of Pakistan and Iranian President in May 2009
for support of the project for early implementation by respective governments.
Subsequently respective entities entered into the Gas
Sale and Purchase Agreement (GSPA) on 5th June 2009, which has become effective
on 13th June 2010 after completion of required Conditions Precedents.
Discussions between the governments of
Iran and Pakistan started in 1994. A preliminary agreement was signed in
1995. This agreement foresaw construction of a pipeline from South Pars gas
field to Karachi in Pakistan. Later Iran made
a proposal to extend the pipeline from Pakistan into India. In February 1999, a
preliminary agreement between Iran and India was signed.
In 2004 the project was revived after the UNDP's report Peace and Prosperity Gas
Pipelines by Pakistani petroleum
engineer,
Gulfaraz Ahmed, was published in December 2003. The report highlighted benefits
of the pipeline to Pakistan, India and Iran.
In February 2007, India and Pakistan agreed
to pay Iran US$4.93 per million British thermal units (US$4.67/GJ) but some
details relating to price adjustment remained open to further negotiation.
In April 2008, Iran expressed interest in the
People's Republic of China's participation in the project. In August 2010,
Iran invited Bangladesh to join the project.
In 2009, India withdrew from the project over
pricing and security issues, and after signing a civilian nuclear deal with the
United States in 2008. However, in March 2010 India called on Pakistan and
Iran for trilateral talks to be held in May 2010 in Tehran.
On 4 September 2012, the project was announced
to commence before October 2012 and be completed by December 2014.
On 30 January 2013, the Pakistan's federal
government approved a deal with Iran for laying the Pakistan's segment of a
pipeline. On 27 February 2013, the construction of the Pakistani section
was agreed. On 11 March 2013, inauguration of the construction works on the
Pakistani section of the pipeline were inaugurated by president
of PakistanAsif
Ali Zardari and president
of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. According
with Javad Owji, managing director of the National
Iranian Gas Company, the pipeline in Pakistan is expected to be constructed
in 22 months with the participation of Iran
On 27 May 2013, Iranian deputy minister for
petroleum, A. Khaledi, in a letter to the Pakistan government expressed
concern over the delay in the start of the Pakistani portion of the pipeline.
He said that after a government-to-government agreement between the two
countries, they were supposed to select entities for the construction of the
latter part of the pipeline. Pakistan still hasn't officially nominated Tadbir
Energy and local sub-contractors to begin work on the Pakistani half of the
pipeline.
On 12 June 2013, the newly elected prime
minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif, allayed any fears regarding the abandonment of
the project and said that the Pakistani government is committed to the
fulfillment of the project and targets the first flow of gas from the pipeline
in December 2014. The premier also stated that his government is planning to
commit to the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India
gas pipeline project
as well.
On 28 November 2013, a 'friendly' country anonymously
offers $1 billion to help fund the pipeline.
On 10-November-2013, a meeting between Pakistan Federal
Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and
Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Namdar Zangeneh held
at the Ministry of Petroleum at Tehran. The Pakistani Officials
assured their Iranian counterparts that project would continue despite
"external pressure"
On 25-Feb-2014, Minister for Petroleum and
Natural Resources Pakistan, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi told the National
Assembly that
the project for the moment is off the table, he cited international sanctions as the issue, he said
" In the absence of international sanctions the project can be completed
within three years, but the government cannot take it any further at the moment
because international sanctions against Iran are a serious issue".
Pakistan will face the penalty if it failed to lay its side of pipeline till
December 2014. Analysts however points at Saudi Arabia's pressure to not to carry
out the project.
Iran plans to abandon this pipeline project,
as per April 2014 news article.
During the state visit of Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif to Iran in May 2014, both the government stated
to remain committed on the completion of the pipeline and also agreed to extend
the completion date by one year. However on 30 May 2014, ISNA
news agency quoted
Iranian Deputy Oil Minister for International and Trade Affairs Ali Majedi as
claiming that the deadline has not been extended as no such agreement was
signed during Nawaz Sharif's visit and the deadline to complete is still
December, 2014.
Controversies
In January 2010, the United States asked
Pakistan to abandon the pipeline project. If canceling the project, Pakistan
would receive assistance from the United States for construction of a liquefied
natural gas terminal and importing electricity from Tajikistan through Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor. However, on 16 March 2010 in Ankara, Iran and Pakistan signed
an agreement on the pipeline. According to the agreement each country must
complete its section by 2014. In July 2011, Iran announced that it has
completed construction of its section If Pakistan does not fulfill its
obligation to complete the pipeline on its side by the end of 2014, it will
have to pay a daily penalty of $1 million to Iran until completion. On 13
March 2012 Pakistan's ministry of finance announced that private investors were
showing diminished interest and that the government might have to impose a tax
on consumers, or seek government-to-government arrangements with Iran, China
and Russia to build the pipeline. On 29 March it was reported that officials
from Pakistan's petroleum ministry would travel to Russia in early April for
talks with Gazprom. Then, in a 7 April article the Pakistani daily PakTribune reported that Gazprom would both finance
and construct the pipeline. This would require setting aside the Public
Procurement Regulatory Authority rules which require international bidding for
such a large project. The Economic Coordination Committee would be asked in its
next meeting to give such permission. The article also informed that the reason
the private consortium no longer would contribute to the project was US
opposition.
On 15 April 2012, it was reported through
unnamed diplomatic sources in Islamabad that Saudi
Arabia was
offering to deliver an "alternative package" to Pakistan if the
country abandoned its cooperation with Iran. In addition to oil the package
would also include a cash loan and oil facility. The news came in connection
with a visit to Pakistan by the Saudi deputy foreign minister.
On 1 May 2012, it was reported that
Pakistan's foreign minister, Hina Rabbani Khar had said that Islamabad will not give
in to US pressures to mothball the project and will finish the huge pipeline
project "at any cost" and that the project was in line with the
country's national interest.
On 29 January 2013, US consul general Michael
Dodman threatened Pakistan with economical sanctions if it does not abandon the
project.
In late October 2013, Sustainable Policy
Development Institute published a report in which the proposed pipeline was
termed as "death sentence" for Pakistan. Since the prices in the
contract are linked to crude oil prices, the government "blatantly ignored
the energy dynamics and its pricing while going for this deal". The gas
sold to Pakistan will be higher priced than the current domestic prices of gas
in the country.
Route
The length of the pipeline that will be
supplied from the South Pars field has been given variously as 900 kilometres
(560 mi), 1,035 kilometres (643 mi), and 2,775 kilometres
(1,724 mi). It starts from Asalouyeh and stretches 1,172 kilometres (728 mi)
through Iran. The Iranian section is known as Iran's seventh cross-country gas
pipeline. The first 902-kilometre (560 mi) part of this section runs from
Asalouyeh to Iranshahr. The second
270-kilometre (170 mi) part runs from Iranshahr to the Iran–Pakistan
border.
Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline project was conceived in
early nineties. The gas is to be supplied The pipeline will start from
the onshore gas processing facility at Assaluyeh in Iran, to traverse a
distance of 1,150 km upto the Iran-Pakistan border, which will be built and
operated by Iran. Iran has already completed a 900-km portion of 56-inch
diameter pipeline from Assaluyeh to Iran Shehr. The remaining 250 km upto the
Pakistan border is under design, and is expected to be completed in two years
time. The Pakistan section of the pipeline is to be laid close to the Makran
costal highway from Iran-Pakistan border up to Pakistan off-take point at
Nawabshah covering a distance of over 781 KM.
In Pakistan, the length of the pipeline is
785 kilometres (488 mi). It will pass through Baluchistan and Sindh. In Khuzdar, a branch would spur off to Karachi, while the main
pipeline will continue towards Multan. From Multan, the pipeline
may be expanded to Delhi. The route in Pakistan
may be changed if China will participate in the project.
As there are concerns over the pipeline being
attacked by Baluchi insurgents, an
alternative offshore route from Iran to the maritime boundary between India and
Pakistan offKutch was proposed.
According to this proposal, from there one branch was to run to Pakistan while
other branch to run to Kutch.
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