Pak, Iran agree periodical review of gas price

TEHRAN—Iran and Pakistan have agreed to periodic revision of gas prices as part of a pipeline deal to carry Iranian gas via Pakistan to India, an Iranian news agency said on Tuesday, quoting the local export company.
“The two parties have agreed that each side submit its demands for gas price revision to the other side every three years, taking into account the situation on the international market,” said a statement from the National Society for Gas Exports from Iran. The two countries have also agreed on other terms, particularly dealing with “situations of force majeure and the law governing the agreement.”
According to the statement quoted by the news agency, the Indian side — opposed to a price review system — may take part in future talks. Late in September, Hojatollah Ganimifard, Iran’s deputy minister in charge of the project said Iran and Pakistan had reached an agreement, in the absence of India, on the pipeline.
He added that the two countries should meet in Pakistan in mid-October to approve a final version of the agreement, with a probable signing of the accord at the end of the month. Talks on the 7.4 billion dollar project to supply gas to India through a 2,600 kilometre (1,615 mile) pipeline began in 1994 but suffered from tensions between India and Pakistan.
Talks resumed early in 2004 along with peace moves between India and Pakistan but have dragged because of New Delhi’s opposition to periodic price reviews. India has also come under US pressure not to be part of the project in what is seen as Washington’s desire to punish Iran for its refusal to bow to demands to suspend its nuclear programme.
Officials from Pakistan and Iran will meet here Oct 15 to take forward the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project even as New Delhi has stressed that it is still a part of the venture. A Petroleum and Natural Resources department official said here that Iranian officials were to reach Islamabad for talks to finalise the project. But the attendance of Indian representatives was still unconfirmed, the Daily Times said Saturday. Pakistani and Iranian experts discussed tariffs and other issues of the project last month in Tehran. They also agreed to hold further talks before signing an agreement. Iran has said that it would finalise the $7.4 billion-gas pipeline deal with Pakistan alone if India does not participate, the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) news agency reported. The pipeline project is to take Iranian gas through Pakistan to the border, from where it can be supplied to India. ‘India very much part of IPI pipeline’
Iran and Pakistan’s decision last week to pursue a gas pipeline project on their own notwithstanding, India has said it continues to be part of the original tri-nation project but reaching a pact depends on settling transit issues with Islamabad. “We have never said that we are pulling out of the IPI project. We are part of the project and will continue pursuing import of gas from Iran through the three-nation pipeline,” Petroleum Secretary M S Srinivasan said in New Delhi.
Iran last week said it will by October-end sign a pact with Pakistan to sell gas through a bilateral pipeline in the absence of India joining the Iran-Pakistan-India gas line.—Agencies