Gas line from Iran on course

The government on Sunday said the $7.4-billion Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline was on its way.

The government on Sunday said the $7.4-billion Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline was on its way. A tripartite deal will be signed at a ministerial-level meeting in Tehran in June.

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Petroleum secretary MS Srinivasan said officials of the three nations would meet in May to finalise the framework of the agreement. The June pact will be followed by a nine-month-long study on the project's execution. By June 2007, the work will start.

Meanwhile, Iranian deputy minister for petroleum, Mohammed Hadi Nejad Hosseinial, will arrive in Delhi on Monday for talks on the gas pipeline even as there are fears that the UN may impose sanctions on Iran following the IAEA report. Hosseinial, who is concluding his discussions with Islamabad, said, "Due to the sensitivity of the oil market,... I believe the UN or any other body will not put any sanctions on the oil industry."

Srinivasan confirmed the road map for the pipeline in the presence of Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora, who inaugurated a project on gas hydrates aboard the research ship Joides Resolution off the shores of Mumbai.