India pushes Iran for IPI project

The petroleum ministry today said it had proposed “bilateral” talks in Tehran to implement the long-delayed India-Pakistan-Iran (IPI) gas pipeline project. The proposed talks would focus on two major issues — pricing and delivery.

Petroleum Secretary S Sundareshan today told reporters: “We have proposed dates for holding technical level talks in Tehran in May.”

The two issues proposed for the talks are pricing and delivery point, he said. “We want to address these issues before we sign up for the IPI pipeline deal.” The current price quoted by Iran was high and not affordable, he said.

It may be noted that India had boycotted from 2008 the talks on the proposed pipeline, after its concerns about safe delivery of gas were ignored. It wants Iran to be responsible for safe passage of gas through the 1,035-km pipeline in Pakistan and has said it will pay for the fuel only when it is delivered at the India-Pakistan border.