ISLAMABAD, Oct 6: A 10-member high-level delegation of Russian firm Gazprom arrived here on Thursday to begin formal discussion on construction of about $7 billion Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline and ambitious projects of gas storage in Pakistan.
Gazprom Chairman Alexey Miller Borisovich will meet President Gen Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Friday and sign a memorandum of understanding for the firm’s investment in the pipeline, gas storage, privatization programme and LNG business.
Mr Miller will fly off in his special plane soon after the signing of the MOU but other members of his delegation will stay back for a couple of days for talks with officials of the ministry of petroleum and public sector petroleum companies.
This is first ever visit to Pakistan by the chairman of Gazprom - the world’s largest gas producing company with over 20 per cent share in global gas production.
A visit by the Gazprom chairman to Pakistan in 2,000 was cancelled at the eleventh hour owing to opposition from India.
But, this time India is backing Gazprom to be part of the IPI project. Indian Oil Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar is understood to have discussed and welcomed Gazprom’s interest in the project during his visit to Russia last week.
The IPI project is expected 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 with TotalFinaelf of France and Malaysian Petronas is the major shareholder of Iranian South Pars field, from where Iran will supply gas to Pakistan and India through the 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.
The 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 the pipeline project.
Pakistan had established through Gazprom in the early 1960s its largest exploration and development company now called the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited.
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 the end of November when trilateral discussions on the project formally begin.
An ambitious gas storage plan through utilization of depleted gas fields in Pakistan is also under active consideration to ensure uninterrupted supply to the pipeline project in case of emergencies and in peak seasons within Pakistan. Gazprom is interested in the project.
