Iran hails Pakistan’s political determination to complete gas pipeline project

Karachi: Iran praised Pakistan’s political decision to complete the gas pipeline project between the two countries, which has been facing delays.
Iran’s Consul General in Pakistan, Hassan Nooryan, said on Monday that Tehran and Islamabad “are looking for ways to complete the project, but international pressure is delaying it.”
The comments were made at a “Meet the Press” session held at the Karachi Press Club, where Iranian officials interacted with journalists.
He said the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline was “very important to the project”.
The two countries signed an agreement in 2010 to build a pipeline from Iran’s South Fars gas field to Pakistan’s Balochistan and Sindh provinces, but work in Pakistan has been delayed due to fears of US sanctions.
Nurian said that the recent visit of Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi to Pakistan was an important step in bilateral relations between the two countries.
During the visit, the two sides discussed speeding up bilateral trade through Gwadar and Shah Bahar ports, exchange of prisoners and other economic and political issues, he said.
The two countries also agreed on counter-terrorism and security cooperation.
Earlier, Defense Minister Khawaja Asif expressed confidence that the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project would be completed and said that obstacles in the path would be removed.
“Pakistan can complete the gas pipeline project with Iran and will decide about it.
“We are building a gas pipeline from Gwadar to the Iranian border,” Asif said on Geo News’ capital talk program ahead of Raisi’s visit last month.
The 1,900-kilometer (1,180-mile) pipeline is supposed to supply 750 million to one billion cubic feet of natural gas per day for 25 years to meet Pakistan’s growing energy needs.
Tehran has said it is investing $2 billion to build a pipeline in its territory. However, Pakistan is yet to start construction work citing international sanctions against Iran.
In 2014, Islamabad asked for a 10-year extension to build the pipeline, which was completed in September this year. Iran may take Pakistan to an international court, industry observers say.
Faced with possible lawsuits, Pakistan’s governing body has moved ahead with plans to build an 80km section of the pipeline this year.
In March, Islamabad said it would lift US sanctions on the pipeline. The US, however, has said it does not support the project and has warned of the risk of sanctions on trade with Tehran.
Pakistan, whose domestic and industrial users rely on natural gas for heating and power purposes, has rapidly dwindling reserves and needs cheap gas from LNG contracts at a time of high inflation.
According to the UN’s World Energy Statistical Review, Iran is the world’s second largest exporter after Russia, but Western sanctions, political instability and construction delays have slowed its growth as an exporter.