India to hold gas supply talks with Pakistan
Pakistan Times Foreign Desk

NEW DELHI (India): India’s Cabinet Wednesday gave the green light for the Oil Ministry to hold talks with Pakistan, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan on securing gas supplies for energy-starved India.

‘It will significantly enhance the oil security of the country,’ Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar told reporters after a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.

Three possible pipelines to India are being investigated - from Iran through Pakistan, from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan and Pakistan and from Myanmar through Bangladesh, he said.

Backdrop

Only 30 percent of India’s oil needs are met from domestic sources and this is expected to halve as the country’s appetite for energy expands.

India is expected to pip South Korea next year as the second-largest oil consumer in the Asian region, which is seen guzzling a larger share of global production in coming years as India and China step up economic growth.

Negotiations on the 1,600 kilometre Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline began in 1994 but the proposal has made little headway due to tensions between Pakistan and India.

Last month, India, Bangladesh and Myanmar agreed in principle to cooperate in a gas exploration and overland pipeline project that would send gas to India.

India is predicted to require 400 million cubic metres of gas per day by 2025, up from today’s 90 million cubic meters.

Pakistan Reax

Pakistan has welcomed the Indian government decision to direct its Petroleum Ministry for holding talks with Pakistan to get gas supplies for India through pipelines.

“This is a good news and they (India) is welcomed,” Pakistan Petroleum Minister Amanullah Khan Jadoon told a news conference in Islamabad.

“We are ready to remove all concerns and reservations of India,” Khan said and added that the project has been ‘delayed due to India’. “We will welcome if India joins the project,” the Pakistani Petroleum Minister said.

Khan said that Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz will discuss the project with Iranian President when he travels to Tehran later this month.

Talks with Qatar

Pakistan has also been holding talks with Qatar and Turkmenistan for gas pipeline projects for years and the Minister said that the Qatar Oil Minister is scheduled to arrive in Islamabad on February 15 for talks on the project.

He said Petroleum Ministers from Afghanistan and Turkmenistan will gather in Islamabad next month to discuss progress on the gas line project.

The Minister said that the prices of Petroleum products and Gas have been increased due to the prices enhanced at international level.

He said the Government has capped the prices of petroleum products during the period of May-December last year to protect the consumer from high prices of oil in the international market and suffered a loss of 40 billion rupees. He said Pakistan imports 3 and a half billion dollars of oil every year.

Gas Load shedding

About the exploration of oil, the Minister said that the number of wells will be increased from 50 to 75 this year.

Regarding Gas Load shedding, Amanullah Khan Jadoon said that due to cold severe weather the gas consumption was increased and some areas faced gas shortage.

He said Sui gas field contributes eighteen percent of the overall gas production. He said gas supply from Sui has been restored and the situation is fully under control.●