ISLAMABAD, Oct 19: Pakistan and Iran could not agree on Friday on the pricing of a gas import plan on Friday but decided to finalise the draft of an agreement by Saturday night to move as quickly as possible to start work on the bilateral pipeline project.

“We are satisfied with the progress as the two sides moved with utmost commitment,” an official source told Dawn after the third round of discussions on Friday. Lawyers from both sides were reading line by line the draft and heads of delegations were addressing the difficulties as they arose, the source said.

The source said almost all the aspects of the project had been taken care of but cautioned that it could not be called “a deal done until it is really done”, given the tedious legalities and politics associated with it. He said the two sides had agreed to an implementation schedule and would have the first draft of the agreement ready by Saturday night.

An official said Pakistan would have a “much better deal” with Iran on gas pricing because of cordial relations than with other competitors because Iran had the second largest reserves and many countries, like Armenia, UAE and Switzerland were vying for its gas.

Insiders said India was almost out of the project now since it was not part of the negotiations at the moment, but Pakistan remained committed to New Delhi to provide safe transit for the pipeline and India was welcome to join the project.

Informed sources said the Pakistani side did not accept Iran’s demand for price revision every three or five years and proposed a ten-yearly revision. The two sides had already agreed to the basic principle of gas price linkage with international market as measured by the Japanese Crude Cocktail (JCC), the sources said.

Pakistan, said the sources, while proposing a ten-yearly revision told the Iranian side that the agreement should be signed not later than December this year. The Iranian side promised to respond to the offer by the first week of next month and agreed that early signing of the agreement would be in the larger interest of both sides.

The Iranian side to the talks was led by Dr Ghanimi Fard, special representative on gas project, while Secretary Petroleum Furrukh Qayum led the Pakistan team. The visiting team earlier paid a courtesy call on federal Minister for Petroleum Amanullah Khan Jadoon.

“Both sides expressed satisfaction on the progress” on the project and on the “ongoing negotiations discussing the technical details which have entered into the final phase since most of the issues now stand resolved,” said an official statement.