The Indian government has voiced opposition to a plan to build a gas pipeline from Iran, via Pakistan, and instead has stated its preference for importing gas from Iran through sea route in order to bypass its traditional nemesis, Pakistan.
The proposed project involves a 56-inch diameter pipeline, which will originate in the Iranian field to Multan will be placed, covering a distance of 2,670 km to deliver 3.3 billion cubic feet of gas per annum.
The cost of the project, as given by a Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) document, is $2 billion. The expert said that the project was not only feasible but practicable also, as it does not pose any security threat.
The concept for the project is not new, but it was always stonewalled as a result of tension between India and Pakistan.
However, it recently was reintroduced after a visit by the Pakistani chief executive, General Pervaiz Musharraf, to Iran.
Iran proposed supplying gas at $2.7 per 1000-BTU, and two consortia, led by Shell and Broken Hill Propriety, expressed interest in managing the project.
The alternative option involves laying the pipeline on the seabed, whose depth and level varies from place to place.
Such projects are vulnerable to water currents, are ecologically unsound, and breakages are extremely difficult and costly to repair. Several experts have described the option of importing Iranian gas by sea to be practically impossible.
At present, the Indian government is considering three proposals for gas supply. Other than Iranian gas, it has been offered gas from Turkmenistan via Afghanistan, and from Qatar.
The Qatari project involves laying of a 44-inch pipeline over a distance of 1,610 km, capable of carrying 1-1.5 billion cubic feet of gas per. The cost of that project is estimated at $3.2 billion. – (Albawaba-MEBG)
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
