KARACHI, May 23: Pakistan plans to persuade India in peace talks to join a transnational natural gas pipeline project, Petroleum Minister Nauraiz Shakoor Khan said on Friday.

“The pipeline project will be the part of the agenda when talks are held with India,” Shakoor told a news conference in port city of Karachi.

Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan, the three key participants in the pipeline project invited India in April to join the 1,600-km (990-mile) pipeline, which would begin in southeastern Turkmenistan.

The three participants consider India’s participation crucial to the success of the project, but it has yet to respond to an invitation they extended in April.

It has, however, expressed concern about security of the pipeline, which will run through Afghanistan.

The pipeline will carry up to 30 billion cubic metres of natural gas per year from Turkmenistan’s Dauletabad fields and is expected to cost $2.5 billion and take three years to build.

The three countries have yet to discuss the ownership structure and how much equity would be sold to private firms.

“India is a big gas market,” Shakoor said. “It will be beneficial for them to join the project.”

Shakoor said the gas could be supplied to India, or used to supply Pakistan’s own needs.

Meanwhile, the federal minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Ch. Nouraiz Shakoor Khan will inaugurate a three day oil and gas conference on “Optimising Drilling Efficiency in Pakistan” being held here from May 27 to 29.

The conference is being organised by Pakistan Petroleum Exploration and Production Companies Association and it would be attended by 150 delegates from Petroleum Industry of Pakistan and abroad.—Reuters/APP