Iran and Pakistan are slated to sign a final agreement to launch implementation of a project for exporting Iran’s rich gas reserves from the massive South Pars field to the south-Asian country through a multi-billion-dollar pipeline. Fars News Agency quoted Hojatollah Ghanimifard, a senior investment official at the National Iranian Oil Co. that there would be a signing ceremony 9 March for the so-called Peace Pipeline. “Once so, the ground is prepared for the export of gas to Pakistan and India,” he added. He said that the agreement will be the last annexation to the deal signed between the two countries in Istanbul, Turkey in May, 2009.
The official further expressed the hope that the new move would pave the way for exports of natural gas to Pakistan by 2014. The 2700-kilometer long pipeline was to supply gas for Pakistan and India which are suffering a lack of energy sources, but India has evaded talks. Last year Iran and Pakistan declared they would finalize the agreement bilaterally if India continued to be absent in meetings. In a major breakthrough on 20 March, the Pakistani government approved Iran’s proposed pricing formula for gas supplies to the South Asian country.
According to the project proposal, the pipeline will begin from Iran’s Assalouyeh Energy Zone in the south and stretch over 1,100 kilometers through Iran. In Pakistan, it will pass through Baluchistan and Sindh but officials now say the route may be changed if China agrees to the project. The gas will be supplied from the South Pars field. The initial capacity of the pipeline will be 22 billion cubic meters of natural gas per annum, which is expected to be later raised to 55 billion cubic meters. It is expected to cost $7.4 billion.