Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad and his Pakistani counterpart sought to settle a row over the price of gas that Iran plans to transport to Pakistan and India, officials said Sunday.

The proposal involves transporting the gas through a pipeline that the three countries plan to jointly build.

Ahmadinejad and Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf held the discussion about the proposed pipeline project late Saturday by telephone, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said. It was not known who initiated the conversation.

The Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline was the "main subject" the two leaders discussed, Aslam said without giving further details.

The state-run Associated Press of Pakistan news agency reported Saturday that Ahmadinejad and Musharraf discussed the pricing for the Iranian gas going through the pipeline, which Iran first proposed in 1996.

"Both leaders also discussed the tariff issue and called for an early resolution of the gas price mechanism and commencement of the project," APP said.

The proposed project has not gotten off the ground mainly because of Indian concerns for the safety of the parts of the pipeline that run through Pakistan, its rival for more than half a century.

Recently, the three countries have also differed over the price that Iran would charge for exporting the gas to Pakistan and India through the proposed 2,600-kilometer (1,615-mile mile) pipeline.

The pipeline, if constructed, is expected to carry 150 million cubic meters (5.2 billion cubic feet) of gas a day and will cost about U.S.$8 billion (€6.25 billion) to build.

The three countries have appointed a consultant to resolve the pricing dispute.

India and Pakistan have rejected the Iranian pricing formula.

The Iranian proposal involves pricing the gas at 10 percent of the Brent crude oil price plus U.S.$1.20 (€0.094) per million British thermal units (MBTU), Dow Jones Newswires reported in August.

According to the Iranian formula, the delivered price of Iranian gas would work out at U.S.$8.20 (€6.4) per MBTU, assuming a 15-day average Brent crude price of U.S.$70 (€54.7) a barrel while, New Delhi is seeking delivery of Iranian gas at the India-Pakistan border of U.S.$4.25 (€3.32) per MBTU, the news agency reported.

Pakistan will likely offer its price for the Iranian gas after reviewing a report by Gaffiney Caline and Associates, the Britain-based consultant that Iran, Pakistan and India have appointed to settle the tariff issue, an official at Pakistan's Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources said Sunday on condition of anonymity because he was unauthorized to make media comments.

Technical officials from the three countries are expected to meet in Iran next month where the consultant's report will be discussed, the official said.

(Source: Associated Press Online)