28 October 2004	Thursday	13 Ramazan 1425

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ISLAMABAD, Oct 27: The petroleum ministers of Pakistan and India are expected to meet in Islamabad early next month to discuss the possibility of laying a multi-billion-dollar trans-Pakistan gas pipeline, Dawn has learnt.

This will be the first time the oil ministers of the two countries will be having direct consultations on the question of laying the $2 billion pipeline. Often hailed as 'peace pipeline', the project is most probably to run from Iran to India.

Informed sources told Dawn on Wednesday that dates for the meeting were currently being worked out by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in consultation with the Indian government.

The petroleum minister has been directed to immediately convene a high-level meeting, involving representatives of the ministries of foreign affairs and interior, security agencies and other relevant government departments, to do groundwork for the meeting.

The possibility of a gas pipeline being laid from Iran via Pakistan to India gained momentum after a meeting between President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New York on Sept 24.

Both the leaders had felt that such a project would contribute to the welfare and prosperity of the people of both the countries.

Pakistan is expected to earn over $500 million annually as transit fee besides required gas quantities. India would be the real beneficiary as gas supply would meet its rising fuel demand while Iran would be able to sell reasonable gas quantities on a permanent basis for decades.

Foreign ministers of Pakistan and India had discussed all aspects of the pipeline in New Delhi on Sept 6 and had agreed that the oil and gas ministers should meet to discuss the 'multifarious dimensions' of the issue.

Iranian leadership has been exchanging views with India and Pakistan on the subject for over a decade but the two sides could not establish a formal contact on a bilateral basis.

Pakistan has repeatedly conveyed its willingness to address any security concerns of India.

The Musharraf-Manmohan meeting triggered a series of consultations in the region involving Iran, Turkmenistan, Russia, Qatar, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan besides a number of other parties interested in providing financing, technical assistance or engineering expertise for the project.

Informed sources said intense lobbying was expected in the coming few months because Iran, Turkmenistan and Qatar, with varying interests and backings, are trying to sell their gas to the growing economies of the subcontinent hungry for natural gas.

These sources said the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which has been floating the idea of a regional natural gas network and had sponsored a feasibility study of Turkmenistan-to-India pipeline, has now offered its services and financing to any gas pipeline project India and Pakistan agree to.

A senior official of the ADB is currently in Islamabad discussing with top Pakistani authorities three gas import options and their technical aspects.

The top management of the Russian energy giant, Gazprom, one of the principal contenders of Iran to India pipeline, had detailed discussions in New Delhi recently and is planning to send another delegation to Islamabad in the first week of November.

The Australian BHP, one of the top oil, gas and mineral exploration companies of the world, is also in intense consultations with relevant quarters in Tehran, Islamabad and New Delhi. BHP has conducted studies on the gas import plans in the region.

Crescent Petroleum of Sharjah, the consortium leader of Qatar gas export plan, has already submitted a gas sales agreement to the Pakistan government which is undergoing a technical evaluation.

The sources said a steering committee of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (TAP) pipeline was due to meet this month but could not because of non-availability of a formal certification of Turkmenistan's Daulatabad gas field reserves where Gazprom has also secured a right to sizable reserves.

This all coincides with the finalization of Pakistan's internal plans, by December this year, to decide which of the three gas import sources - Iran, Qatar or Turkmenistan - it should pursue as a viable option.

However, the gas demand figures indicated by the Planning Commission, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources, the Private Power and Infrastructure Board and Interstate Gas Company Limited are at variance with each other. They were not sure about the demand of gas in the coming years but put the shortage figures between 600-1,500 mmcfd (million cubic feet of gas per day) in the next couple of years.

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