Minister calls for rapid accomplishment of IP pipeline

Iran needs to get moving on plans to finish a natural gas pipeline slated for consumers in energy-hungry Pakistan, a deputy minister said.Tehran signed a $7.5 billion natural gas deal with Islamabad in 2009 that included plans for a pipeline from Iran's South Pars gas field. Iran's Deputy Interior Minister for Security Affairs Ali Abdollahi was quoted as saying security wasn't an obstacle to pipeline construction plans. "The Iranian Oil Ministry must follow up on this issue and complete the pipeline as soon as possible," he told press tv. In a major breakthrough on March 20, 2009, the Pakistani government approved Iran's proposed pricing formula for gas supplies to the South Asian nation. Subsequently, Tehran and Islamabad signed a final agreement to launch implementation of the project. Tehran and Islamabad also sealed a final contract for the start of Iran's gas exports to Pakistan through the multi-billion-dollar pipeline in spring 2014. The last annex of the agreement for export of Iran's gas to Pakistan was signed on June 13 by former Iranian Oil Minister Massoud Mir-Kazzemi and Managing Director of Pakistan's Inter-State Gas Company Naeem Sharafat in a meeting also attended by the Iranian oil ministry's representative in gas talks with Pakistan Seyed Reza Kassayeezadeh. 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. In 2009 Iran and Pakistan declared they would finalize the agreement bilaterally if India continued to be absent in the meetings. According to the project proposal, the pipeline will begin from Iran's Assalouyeh Energy Zone in the south and stretch over 1,100 km 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.