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Delhi rekindles interest in Iran gas project

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Delhi rekindles interest in Iran gas project
Ashok Tuteja
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 22
Notwithstanding American pressure, New Delhi is showing renewed interest in the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline. Official sources denied that India was reluctant to pursue the ambitious IPI project and was now keen on an early fruition of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline.

“We are an energy-deficient country…to sustain our high growth rate and ensure energy security, we need energy from every possible source,’’ they added.

The clarification came following reports that Iran is peeved with India for virtually abandoning the IPI pipeline and joining the US-backed TAPI project.

Tehran has gone on record saying that it was no longer holding talks with India on the IPI pipeline but has signed a bilateral accord with Pakistan on the project. It has also from time to time given firm indications that China was too keen to replace India in the project. Pakistan also wants China, its ‘all weather friend’, to join the project.

The Indian sources sought to dispel the impression that Washington had been exerting pressure on India not to pursue the IPI pipeline in view of Iran’s controversial nuclear programme.

The US has never told the Indian government that it did not want the IPI natural gas pipeline to be built. "They have said it isn't a good thing in public but never to us directly - possibly because they know the reply they will get." the sources added.

They said various important issues, like pricing of gas, delivery point of gas, project structure, payment of transportation tariff and transit fee for passage of natural gas through Pakistan and security of supply had still not been sorted out as far as the IPI project was concerned. “Once our concerns are addressed satisfactorily, we will have no hesitation in going ahead with the project.’’

Asked how the TAPI pipeline would be more viable for India than the IPI project, which was being negotiated since the nineties, the officials New Delhi had no problem with either of the projects.

TAPI project is said to be moving forward fast following the signing of an enabling agreement last year. It has overcome some earlier concerns, including technical feasibility of crossing some of the world's highest mountains and concerns about the size of Turkmenistan's gas reserves.

If completed, the Turkmenistan pipeline would also allow India to tap into the gas fields of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan as well.

We need links like this and reliance on each other for a convergence of interests
 
We never had issues with IPI Gas. We always had a worry about its security as this is passing through Balochistan. Pak never gave assurance about it. Let GoP come forward and provide security of the pipes, we are ready to sign the deal.
 
We never had issues with IPI Gas. We always had a worry about its security as this is passing through Balochistan. Pak never gave assurance about it. Let GoP come forward and provide security of the pipes, we are ready to sign the deal.
Also, the exorbitant transit fees pakistan wants to charge on the gas.
The Iran gas was the "lean gas" and good enough ONLY for combustion ( power generation ). With the high transit fees the cost of gas, at india's door steps, was becoming uneconomical.
Had it been NG, we could use it fr other purposes, e.g Urea, petrochemicals etc, and then use the "lean gas" for power generation.
 
is it possible to take the pipeline through arabian sea ....keeping pakistan out ...no transit fee and no security trouble ....share your views ...
 
is it possible to take the pipeline through arabian sea ....keeping pakistan out ...no transit fee and no security trouble ....share your views ...
very costly and the technically difficult. The deepest submarine pipeline is in caspian sea and the depth in Arabian sea, along the route that India desires, is around twice that of Caspian sea , at some locations.
Italian company , Snamprogetti ,was asked to do the feasibility on this by Iranians. India didn't agree to this as Snamprogetti has bad reputation ( or black listed) in India.
The year(which I don't remember) when the cost of on land pipe line was estimated to be USD 6 billion, the cost of submarine pipeline was USD 12 billion. with this much money we could have built many LNG-regasification terminals ( even at southern India) and import LNG. This was the economics many years ago..I don't know the latest.
 
Another drama by delhi........ either it should stick with the plan or get lost........ instead of acting like a confused woman.
 
Another drama by delhi........ either it should stick with the plan or get lost........ instead of acting like a confused woman.
What prevents pakistan from going it all alone ? Why U wait for India?
pakistan has talked about going alone since ages, yet nothing on the ground?
India would be the largest customer and the pipe IPI pipeline make sense, IP pipeline doesn't make any economical sense, hence no progress.
 
What prevents pakistan from going it all alone ? Why U wait for India?
pakistan has talked about going alone since ages, yet nothing on the ground?
India would be the largest customer and the pipe IPI pipeline make sense, IP pipeline doesn't make any economical sense, hence no progress.

LOL we dnt give a DAMN abt india.... thts why the agreement has already been signed.

Pakistan, Iran sign deal on natural gas pipeline | Reuters


And will be operational by 2015.



Iran-Pakistan Gas Pipeline to be Functional by 2015


While China is showing interest in the deal..

China shows interest in Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline | Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses


Hence nobdy gives a damn if india joins or not.
 
well knowing the indians, they'll keep it on the back-burner....if the US annoys them, they'll just use the pipeline as their 'leverage'


but as we (a stakeholder) know, regardless of whether they join or not will have absolutely no impact on the project. No problem at all for Pakistan, so they could do whatever they want. Who cares.
 

Post-Iran deal fiasco, India gets Israel’s gas offer


NEW DELHI: Israel, which suddenly finds itself flush with natural gas, has offered to export it to India. The offer was made by Israeli finance minister Yuval Steinitz to the Indian government during his visit here last week. In his conversations with finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon, Steinitz is believed to have said that Israel was looking to export gas to India.

According to sources, the two countries will be setting up committees to do a feasibility survey of the offer. The discussions are expected to intensify during a rare visit by foreign minister SM Krishna to Israel in early January.

India sources most of its natural gas from Qatar and Oman. Iran, which could have been a major supplier of LNG, cancelled a huge deal to India after it had been signed, following India's vote against its nuclear programme in the IAEA. A gas pipeline from Iran to India via Pakistan too has run aground on security considerations. Within the country, India's much hyped Krishna-Godavari gas basin has run into trouble after disagreement over pricing resulted in a drop in production. So India is in the market for big gas flows.

Israel, which had been energy deficient for decades and locked in potentially unstable energy relationships with Arab countries that have been bitterly opposed to it, stumbled on a bonanza when huge quantities of natural gas were discovered off its northern coast. Gas is expected to start flowing from the Tamar field in 2013 and from the Leviathan in 2016. Varying estimates give Israel control over some 400 bcm of gas. It promises to reduce Israel's dependence on Arab states like Egypt and Jordan and offers the prospects of billions of dollars in revenue.

Israel has already started the process of picking out export routes to Europe, through Greece and Cyprus. In the east, energy-hungry India offers the best market that is also free from political troubles for both countries.

Israel and India have grown closer in the past decade through a strategic partnership that includes defence, count-terrorism and intelligence. It has also flourished despite the fact that India has strong traditional relations with the Arab world.

In the early part of this decade, there was talk of a Medstream pipeline carrying gas and oil from Turkey though Israel which would be bound for India. But with Israel-Turkey relationship deteriorating significantly in the past couple of years, that pipeline has been shelved for the present.

India is not only energy-deficient, it is overly dependent for oil from West Asia, many countries of which are in the midst of unprecedented political ferment. The Indian growth story would be severely impacted in the event of higher energy prices, or a shortage brought about by external factors. For the past decade, Indian governments have been engaged in diversifying energy sources -- from nuclear to renewable, gas to wind, India wants it all.
 

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