TEHRAN, Jan 26: Officials from Iran, India and Pakistan have agreed on a pricing formula for the export of Iranian gas to meet India’s burgeoning energy demands, an Iranian oil official said on Friday.

“After years of efforts we could reach an understanding in terms of a pricing formula,” Hojatollah Ghanimi-fard, director of international affairs at the National Iranian Oil Company told the Iranian state radio.

“The three sides will take this proposal, this agreement to their (governments) and we hope to take the next steps after they give their opinions,” Mr Ghanimi-fard said after three days of negotiations with Indian and Pakistani officials in Tehran.

“The three sides have one month to respond,” he added, without elaborating on the terms of the accord. He hoped the three countries can “take all other measures” by the end of June in the next round of discussions.

Talks on the proposed multi-billion-dollar pipeline — to supply Iranian gas to India through a 2,600km pipeline via Pakistan — began in 1994. The talks stalled due to tensions between India and Pakistan but were re-started following the launch of a slow-moving peace process in February 2004.

The discussions then ran into another obstacle, with Tehran saying New Delhi and Islamabad were unwilling to pay the asking price. In August, the three countries agreed to appoint a consultant to resolve the row over the fees.

Indian oil ministry sources said the price quoted by Tehran was about $7 per million British thermal units (Btu) of gas which includes the cost of transportation. New Delhi, which is anxious to exploit new sources of energy to fuel its booming economy, deemed this too steep and was unwilling to pay more than $4.25.—AFP