Associated Press

New Delhi, February 12:

India wants to sign an agreement soon to import natural gas from Iran, a minister said, but securing a deal to deliver the fuel through a proposed pipeline that will cut through Pakistan is far from complete.

Talks on a pipeline to bring Iranian gas to India through Pakistan were originally proposed by Iran in 1996, but the project never got off the ground, mainly because of shaky relations between rivals India and Pakistan. Ties have improved in the past year.

“I am going to Tehran in June and hope this would act as a catalyst in furthering an agreement on the import of natural gas through a pipeline passing through Pakistan,” Press Trust of India quoted India’s petroleum minister Mani Shankar Aiyar.

The agreement with Iran would be for the delivery of gas on the Indian border with Pakistan and New Delhi would not be associated with the construction, maintenance or operation of the 2,775-km long pipeline, nearly a quarter of which will pass through Pakistani territory.

“There will be two sets of bilateral agreements. In the first one, Iran will enter into a pact with India for delivery of natural gas at the Indian border while the second would be between Iran and Pakistan on how the gas is to be transported to the Indian border,” said Aiyar.

Pakistan is eager for the project because it would also have access to the gas and earn an estimated $600 million a year in transit fees if the pipeline extends to India.

India imports more than 70 per cent of the crude it consumes, and demand for oil is rising because of its rapidly growing industrial might and economy.