ISLAMABAD, Sept 9: Pakistan and India on Friday said they jointly required a maximum of two trillion cubic meters (2-TCM) of gas over the next 30 years, following an Iranian assurance that Tehran had allocated about 14-TCM of gas for export. The two sides at the end of their two-day secretary-level talks decided to finalize the trilateral framework agreement by the end of December so that Iranian gas could start reaching Pakistan and northern parts of India by early 2010 or mid-2010, said Indian Petroleum Secretary Sushil Chand Tripathi.

The Joint Working Group (JWG) agreed to lay a 56-inch diameter pipeline as the countries would need a total of about 5.6 BCFD (billion cubic feet per day) of gas by 2015.

At a joint news conference, Petroleum Secretary Ahmad Waqar said Pakistan required about 1BCFD of gas by 2010 that would increase to 2.5BCFD by 2015. India, he said, would need 2.1BCFD by 2010, which would go up to 3.1BCFD.

The two sides agreed to hold the next meeting of JWG in New Delhi in the second week of November and finalize tripartite framework agreement by December 2005.

Petroleum Minister Amanullah Khan Jadoon will visit New Delhi next month and his Indian counterpart would pay a reciprocal visit to Islamabad before December to maintain momentum of talks.

The two sides agreed that volume and length of the pipeline would be the principles for calculating transit fee for Pakistan, but would require detailed calculations to reach a final figure.

Pakistan would get substantial benefit in the form of transit fee, said Mr Ahmed.

The Indian petroleum secretary said New Delhi had identified JaisalMir and BarMir as two delivery points on the Pakistan-India border. He added that physical route surveys would be conducted to determine the project cost and related parameters.

In reply to a question whether Indian reservations over security were over, Mr Tripathi said it had been agreed that it would be a ‘world class safe and secure’ project through incorporation of best practices to handle security of the project’s implementation and later its operation.

He said the estimated cost of the project at the time of the last JWG meeting in New Delhi was put at about $7 billion, but a final figure could not be quoted at the moment.