ISLAMABAD, Oct 14: All the three gas pipeline proposals relating to Qatar, Turkeministan and Iran are unlikely to materialise in near future because of various reasons, forcing the concerned authorities to look for other alternatives to meet the growing gas requirements.
Informed sources told Dawn on Saturday that Qatar has regretted to lay a gas pipeline up to Pakistan, saying that it did not have enough gas reserves, therefore, it was no more considering the proposal.
The escalation of violence in Afghanistan has also marred the chances of laying the Turkeministan gas pipeline via Afghanistan.
Sources said that the $7 billion Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project was also in doldrums because of considerable opposition by the US government.
Referring to the Qatar gas pipeline, an official of the ministry of petroleum and natural resource said: “We are not very hopeful about it,” he said.
About the gas pipeline from Turkeministan, he said that although the Daulatabad gas reserves were abundant which could be imported by the neighbouring countries including Pakistan. “But how can we have any gas pipeline from Turkeministan after the increase in fighting in Afghanistan”, he said.
But the official was not all that pessimistic about IPI gas project, saying that some positive developments had taken place.
However, he declined to comment on political issues like the continuous opposition by the Bush administration over the IPI and said, “I cannot talk about it as this has to be … finalised between the top authorities of the two countries,” he said.
The official said that the IPI gas project’s cost could exceed $7 billion because of rising steel prices in the international market.
He said the price formula for Iranian gas still remained to be concluded after which the issue of transit fee would be decided for taking the pipeline upto to India.
The official did not say whether the royalty of gas to be charged from India could range from $500 million to $600 million. “There is no decision about it as the issue is still to be negotiated”.
Stressing the need for an early settlement of pricing formula, he said that Iran was not showing enough flexibility. Once that formula was agreed upon, he said, other issues like project structure, framework, quality and quantity of gas and other commercial and legal issues would be decided.
He said that it had been agreed with India to appoint a UK-based Singapore consultant — Gaffney Cline - to help sort out issues relating to gas pricing between Iran, Pakistan and India.
Based on their report, he said, the meeting of the working group of three countries would be held in Tehran before the end of this year to decide the issue.
A diplomat said that the US government has explained its position on the Iran pipeline to both India and Pakistan, adding that Washington wanted them to reconsider their decision.
