TEHRAN Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh said in New Delhi that India is pleased with the laying of Iran-India gas pipeline.
"Regarding India's dire and increasing need for natural gas and Iran's rich gas sources, we appreciate laying of Iran-India gas pipeline," Jaswant told visiting Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Affairs Mohammad-Hossein Adeli.
"I do not waver in my support for expansion of relations with Iran and to this end I will spare no efforts." At the end of his two-day visit, Adeli said, "This is not a political project. It is one based on commercial merits. The main parties here are Iran and India and no third party." The plan outlined by Tehran envisages a foreign consortium being the link between the two countries buying gas from Tehran and selling it to New Delhi for a 30-year period.
The foreign consortium would also accept any responsibility for possible disruption of supplies by the transit state. The proposed pipeline would be an undersea one running from Assalouyeh in Iran to Jamnagar port on India's west coast.
India and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding on a pipeline deal seven years ago. But the tense relations between India and Pakistan have blocked completion of even a feasibility study for the pipeline which would run more than 620 miles. Earlier this year, Pakistan announced approval of the pipeline project and offered security for a continuous flow of natural gas to India from Iran.
India's burgeoning industry is desperately looking for new sources of the clean-burning fuel.
The current consumption of 5.3 billion cubic feet a day is projected to shoot up to 13.7 billion by 2025.
(IRNA)