ISLAMABAD, Sept 5: A high-level delegation of the Russian firm, Gazprom, will visit Pakistan early next month to begin discussions to lead a consortium for the construction of the $7.4 billion Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline. Gazprom Chairman Alexey Miller Borisovich will lead the delegation to Islamabad on October 6 and remain here for three days to hold talks with the top leadership besides officials of the petroleum ministry and gas companies, sources told Dawn on Sunday.

It will be the first visit to Pakistan by the Gazprom chairman — the world’s largest gas company with over 20 per cent share in global gas production.

A visit by the Gazprom chairman to Pakistan in 2000 was cancelled at the eleventh hour owing to strong opposition from India where President Viladmir Putin was paying an official visit at that time.

The project is estimated under different calculations to yield between $8-21 billion in transit fee to Pakistan over a period of 30 years for allowing use of its territory to carry a 2,670-km gas pipeline.

Gazprom, along with TotalFinaelf of France and Malaysian Petronas, is the major shareholder of Iranian South Pars field, from where Iran would supply gas to Pakistan and India through the multi-billion dollar trans-national pipeline.

The Russian energy giant has already held numerous rounds of talks with authorities in Iran and India to lead or at least become an active player in the consortium to lay a 2,670-km gas pipeline from Iran to India through Pakistan. Indian companies like Indian Oil Company (IOC) and GAIL are also expected to join the consortium.

Government officials attach great significance to the Gazprom chief’s visit to Pakistan within a month of second meeting of the Pakistan-India Joint Working Group (JWG) on gas pipeline in Islamabad on September 7-8. The visit is important not only for Gazprom’s shareholding in the Iranian South Pars gas field, but also because it had once firmed up a consortium to deliver Iranian gas to India and Pakistan. The project, however, remained dormant since then owing to different reasons.

Besides the pipeline, Pakistan is also interested in involving the Russian firm in other oil and gas sectors including petrochemical and other upstream and downstream activities.

Gazprom is a part of at least six of the 12 trans-national pipelines which Pakistan and India have selected as models for detailed engineering, pricing, transit fee and legal issues.

Sources said that the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline project would be governed under a trilateral framework agreement, which would be prepared jointly by the three parties and would lead to a series of other bilateral and trilateral agreements.

Both India and Pakistan are currently in the process of appointing legal, financial and technical consultants to prepare the project structure separately so that a unified structure is finalised by end of November when trilateral discussions formally start on the project.