India questions IPI project viability

LONDON, July 28 (IranMania) - The Indian government casts doubts on the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project, saying its economic viability has to be studied, PressTV reported.

"We have to see the economic viability of the pipeline, given the extra costs of insurance, since the pipeline will pass through areas that are not stable," said Indian Prime Minister's special envoy, Shyam Saran, in New Delhi on Saturday.

His remarks come about 10 days after the Iranian Oil Minister Gholam-Hossein Nozari and his Indian counterpart Murli Deora agreed in an energy conference in Madrid to finalize the IPI project deal by August.

Iran has addressed India's concern on the security of the pipeline passing through Pakistan by agreeing to move the delivery point to India-Pakistan border.

"We are discussing this with Iran and Pakistan now," Saran said. "If the costs are too high and we're locked into an agreement for the next 50 years, then we have a problem."

The three countries are scheduled to meet in Tehran in late July to discuss the remaining issues in the multi-billion-dollar project, including the key issue of price which has remained unsolved between Iran and India.

Iran and Pakistan have finalized a Gas Sales Purchase Agreement, based on which a periodic gas price adjustment will be agreed to by the two countries, but India has not agreed to price revision.

The United States seeks to stall an agreement on the project, also called the 'peace pipeline', to exert pressure on Tehran over its nuclear program.

The 2,775-kilometer gas pipeline will initially transfer 60 million cubic meters of natural gas per day from Iran to India and Pakistan, with capacity set to eventually increase to 150 million cubic meters per day.

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Just days after Murli Deora stated that TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) was not feasible. To think that Pakistan is also promoting some negotiation with Balochi tribal leaders by creating a sub-committee.