NEW DELHI, Nov 26: Indian minister for petroleum Mani Shanker Ayar vowed on Saturday that work on the much-delayed India-Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline would be expedited.

Mr Ayar expressed this resolve while talking to reporters during a Round-Table Conference of Asian oil ministers here.

He said the project was getting immense importance with the passage of time. Therefore, he hoped the Indian cabinet would give permission to take forward tripartite negotiations regarding the execution of the project.

About Russian gas company’s interests in the project, the Indian minister said he would welcome the company, adding that conditions would be worked out by all the three partners of the project. Russia is keen to participate in the $7 billion pipeline project and sharing the risks involved.

“Russia and its energy giant Gazprom are prepared to share risk along the route of the pipeline and we do hope that other stakeholders will be benign towards the possibility of sharing risk with us,” Russian energy minister V Khristenko told newsmen on the sidelines of the moot.

Gazprom wants to become partner in the construction, operation and maintenance of the 2,100km pipeline that will transport natural gas from the gigantic South Pars field in Persian Gulf to Pakistan and India.

State-owned gas utility GAIL India Ltd has appointed UK’s ILF Consulting Engineers as technical consultant for doing the pre-feasibility of the estimated 2,100-km pipeline, of which 1,100km will be in Iran, 750-km will be in Pakistan and 250-km in India. The report is scheduled to be completed by mid-December 2005. —Agencies

Jawed Naqvi adds: Turkmenistan has assured India of sufficient availability of gas for export to South Asia and details of its surplus gas reserves have been sent to the Asian Development Bank in Manila, Mr Aiyar said.

After a meeting with the visiting Turkmenistan delegation, led by A. K. Pudakov, a former minister of oil and gas industry and head of Turkmenistanbashi Oil Refinery, Mr Aiyar said India had been invited for next meeting of steering committee on Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (TAP) pipeline as observer.

India has suggested a TAP meeting in New Delhi early next month but Pakistan has reportedly proposed this to take place early next year.