India quits IPI gas pipeline project: report
07 Sep 2009
Tehran: Iranian news agencies are carrying reports that India has exited from a gas pipeline project which it was earlier part of in association with Iran and Pakistan. The report flashed by the Mehr news agency cites the Pakistani ambassador to Iran as its source. The Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline has been under discussions and negotiations ever since the 1990s.
"India definitely quitted the IPI gas pipeline deal," the report said, citing Pakistani ambassador to Iran, Muhammad Bux Abbasi, as saying here on Sunday.
Abbasi added that Pakistan plans to increase its crude oil import from Iran. Iranian officials, however, said India has not yet officially declared its intention.
In May this year, Tehran and Islamabad signed a $7.6-billion deal to supply gas from Iran to Pakistan. Under terms of the deal, Iran would initially supply 30 million cubic meters of gas per day to Pakistan which would later be increased to 60 million cubic meters per day.
Under the deal, gas supply to Pakistan from Iran would commence from 2013.