Iran-Pakistan Gas Pipeline (IPP) News & Updates.

[saiyan0321]

p.s. I am not against pipeline project. I am just saying it is not feasible until Iranians seriously try to get out of sanctions.

I got from your post that you werent against the pipeline , just pointing out one of the many troubles of this project. Yes the fact is we are under america whether we like it or not and as much loan as we have taken we cant just tell them to "go to hell" .. i think rather then Iran coming out of sanctions we have to get out of american loans but to do it we need a stable economy with a loyal govt.

 

[FaujHistorian]

I got from your post that you werent against the pipeline , just pointing out one of the many troubles of this project. Yes the fact is we are under america whether we like it or not and as much loan as we have taken we cant just tell them to "go to hell" .. i think rather then Iran coming out of sanctions we have to get out of american loans but to do it we need a stable economy with a loyal govt.

I hear you. my bro I hear you.


What you say perhaps is the way.


But

let me ask you a simple question.

-- Will it take less time for Iran to come out of sanctions

-- Or will it take shorter time for Pakistan to pay back all the loans and build up substantial reserves.


Let's say by 2030 which one of these is more likely to happen?

 

[Argus Panoptes]

Pakistan desperately needs energy, specially gas. The Iran pipeline project is important in this regard, as long as the prices of the supplied gas are affordable for the poor consumers in Pakistan.

 

[muse]

Pakistan have chosen to shoot themselves rather than defy the US and their Gulf Arab allies - After having squeezed every possible concession from the Iranians, with the Agreement to be signed on the 18th, the Pakistanis now want to renegotiate the price - Iranians should not step back but say to the Pakistanis that should the Pakistanis want the deal, Iran will be prepared to go ahead with it.

Pakistan seeks to renegotiate Iran gas price | Pakistan | DAWN.COM

 

[Argus Panoptes]

Pakistan have chosen to shoot themselves rather than defy the US and their Gulf Arab allies - After having squeezed every possible concession from the Iranians, with the Agreement to be signed on the 18th, the Pakistanis now want to renegotiate the price - Iranians should not step back but say to the Pakistanis that should the Pakistanis want the deal, Iran will be prepared to go ahead with it.

Pakistan seeks to renegotiate Iran gas price | Pakistan | DAWN.COM

But what good is the pipeline if the price of the gas Iran supplies through it is so expensive that Pakistan cannot afford it?

This will be just like the rental power projects disaster where the installed capacity is there but Pakistan cannot afford to pay the price for the electricity that is generated.

 

[fatman17]

Iran-Pakistan Pipeline Moves Forward Despite U.S. Opposition



By Reza Jan, Will Fulton

February 5, 2013


Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi shakes hands with Pakistan's Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh after signing paperwork in Islamabad September 8, 2011.


Iran on Saturday pledged to forge ahead on a new gas pipeline project with Pakistan despite U.S. urgings to Pakistan to quash the deal. The U.S. has strongly opposed the pipeline out of fears that it would provide fresh infusions of foreign exchange into Iran’s economy at a time when the U.S. and western allies have imposed a strict sanctions regime on Tehran as part of efforts to prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon. The deal is noteworthy because it involves an Iranian company closely linked to Iran’s Supreme Leader and could potentially put Pakistan on the wrong side of the sanctions regime against Iran.

On January 30, Pakistan’s cabinet ratified a $1.5 billion agreement with Iran for the laying of nearly 500 miles of pipeline in Pakistan that would connect the country’s gas infrastructure to Iran’s massive South Pars natural gas fields. The pipeline would potentially add over 750 million cubic feet of gas per day to Pakistan’s grid at a time when the country faces crippling energy shortages with some cities suffering frequent protests against 20 hour-long power outages.

Iran offered cash-strapped Pakistan over $500 million in financing to lay the Pakistani section of the pipeline after several private and sovereign foreign entities backed out of the plan over fears of incurring U.S. ire for participating in the project (and when Pakistan refused to award contracts to some without bidding). The Iranians have offered even more funding if the Pakistanis demonstrate seriousness in going ahead with and completing the project. Pakistan, in return, has offered the contract for the construction of the Pakistani segment of the pipeline to an Iranian company called Tadbir Energy (Iran has already largely completed its section).

Tadbir Energy is an Iranian firm that “isn’t sanctioned by any foreign government,” and in July 2012, it made a bid to take over the failing Petit-Couronne refinery in France. The Iranian firm, however, is a subsidiary of the Headquarters for Implementing the Imam’s Directive (HIID), also known as the Imam Khomeini Foundation, an investment firm linked to Iran’s Office of the Supreme Leader. The European Union sanctioned the president of HIID, Mohammad Mokhber, in 2010 for his involvement in Iranian “nuclear or ballistic missiles activities.” Mokhber is also a member of the Sina Bank board of directors, sanctioned by the European Union for its close ties to the Office of the Supreme Leader.

It will be important to watch whether the conclusion of the pipeline agreement leads to further cracks in the U.S.-Pakistan relationship, especially at a time when the U.S. appears to be looking to Pakistan to help facilitate reconciliation in Afghanistan as the U.S. continues to draw down troops from the country. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned in March 2012 that “beginning the construction of [the] pipeline, either as an Iranian project or as a joint project, would violate [U.S.] Iran sanctions law.” For a time, it appeared as if Pakistan was sensitive to U.S. concerns over Iran and gave some indications that it may scrap or indefinitely delay the pipeline project due to U.S. objections. Pakistan appears now to have calculated that its short-term energy needs are too great, and the threat of U.S. sanctions not strong enough, for it to forgo the deal.

It will also be important to monitor whether Pakistan’s decision to cut a deal with the Iranians has a significant impact on loosening western sanctions on Iran and what sanctions or other fallout, if any, it may face for spurning U.S. entreaties vis-à-vis Iran and engaging with an Iranian company closely linked to already-sanctioned entities.

 

[BATMAN]

Pakistan have chosen to shoot themselves rather than defy the US and their Gulf Arab allies - After having squeezed every possible concession from the Iranians, with the Agreement to be signed on the 18th, the Pakistanis now want to renegotiate the price - Iranians should not step back but say to the Pakistanis that should the Pakistanis want the deal, Iran will be prepared to go ahead with it.

Pakistan seeks to renegotiate Iran gas price | Pakistan | DAWN.COM

Who is Pakistan? It is Zardari and its tribe!

How stupid of every one... price settlement is basic issue before making towering claims.

Is there any news clip of price settlement in past?

what the hell??

He's Iraqi Mullah in global age.

 

[saiyan0321]

I hear you. my bro I hear you.


What you say perhaps is the way.


But

let me ask you a simple question.

-- Will it take less time for Iran to come out of sanctions

-- Or will it take shorter time for Pakistan to pay back all the loans and build up substantial reserves.


Let's say by 2030 which one of these is more likely to happen?

Neither ... seriously neither. i dont see us ever going without debt and iran wont bow to USA and leave nuclear tech. infact sanctions will go worse the closer they get. Pakistan will not have that dream govt that will say No to USA and pay back all the debt and then start making it own their own. This will take too much time and require a run of good Govt. not till 2030 but can be better on the road.

 

[Argus Panoptes]

I think the IP project is not as great as it is made out to be. Some healthy skepticism is needed, still:

Pakistan and Iran: Gas, but not the useful sort | The Economist

Pakistan and Iran
Gas, but not the useful sort

Barren ground for a new pipeline
Mar 16th 2013 | ISLAMABAD |From the print edition


IT WAS smiles and handshakes all round on Pakistan’s border with Iran, as the presidents of the two countries posed on March 11th to mark the start of the construction of the Pakistani part of a pipeline that is supposed to bring Iranian natural gas to a country starved of energy. Blackouts cripple industry and bring daily misery to Pakistani households. The new pipeline is supposed to be completed by the end of 2014.

Yet ending misery appears not to be among the chief political motives. Rather, Iran hopes that the project will lessen the country’s international isolation. Pakistan’s relations with its neighbour have usually been chilly. But under President Asif Ali Zardari, they have warmed. That is indicative of Pakistan’s tilt away from the United States, which lobbied the government in Islamabad against the deal and which has been pushing the idea of an alternative pipeline running from Turkmenistan, through war-ravaged Afghanistan, and then into Pakistan and India. Instead, Pakistan has also begun talks with Iran about an oil refinery at its Gulf port of Gwadar. Pakistan recently decided to hand control of the new deep-sea port there to the Chinese, another development that concerns the United States, not to mention India.

The new pipeline comes from the giant South Pars gasfield and will snake into southern Pakistan. Iran has already built all but the final 320km (200 miles) of its bit of the pipeline, according to the deputy oil minister, Javad Owji. Now Pakistan has to build about 800km.

That it has to pass through the insurgency-ridden province of Balochistan is only one cause for doubting its completion. It is also not clear how Pakistan, which is strapped for cash, will finance its part of the pipeline, especially if hit by international sanctions for dealing with Iran. What is more, this is the last week that the current government, led by Mr Zardari’s Pakistan Peoples Party, has in office. According to polls, the opposition party of Nawaz Sharif, who is close to Iran’s foe, Saudi Arabia, looks set to lead the next government after an election, likely in May.

For five years, Mr Zardari’s administration has sat on the country’s energy crisis, with little action beyond get-rich-quick schemes for his cronies. The Iranian gas is not cheap. Exploiting Pakistan’s domestic reserves, which produce gas at about half the price, has been neglected. So, too, have imports of liquefied natural gas. Little has been done to deal with appalling inefficiencies in the country’s electricity system.

But even though the announcement of the Iranian pipeline looks like a gimmick, the Americans’ idea of gas all the way from Turkmenistan is a pipe dream. Beleaguered Pakistanis have longer to wait before gas flows into homes, or blackouts are a thing of the past.

 

[Cyberian]

The peace pipeline — Atif Shamim Syed
Sunday, March 17, 2013

On Monday March 11, 2013, the presidents of Pakistan and Iran Mr Asif Ali Zardari and Mr Mahmoud Ahmadinejad inaugurated the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline. The pipeline is also, sometimes, referred to as the Peace Pipeline. The idea for such a supply channel was originally suggested by Malik Aftab Ahmed Khan in his article titled “Persian Pipeline”, which was published by the Military College of Engineering in the mid-1950s. It was conceptualised by Nobel Prize-winning Indian academic Rajendra K Pachauri and Iran’s former deputy foreign minister Ali Shams Ardekani.

In 1994, negotiations for ‘Peace Pipeline’ commenced between Iran and Pakistan. India joined the talks in 1999. Initially, the plan was dubbed as Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline, which was supposed to deliver Iranian gas to Pakistan and, onwards to India. However, India opted out of the project in 2009 citing dissatisfaction with the transit fee that Pakistan was demanding. There were also concerns about the security of the whole venture that traversed through hostile territory at several points. However, it is widely believed that India quit the project at the behest of the United States. Last year, a Chinese bank also abandoned the pipeline project out of fear that it might be subjected to international sanctions for dealing with Iran.

In late January, Iran and Pakistan jointly set up a company in order to build the Pakistani portion of the pipeline. Initially, the estimated time for completion of the Pakistani part was a little more than a year but according to recent Iranian media reports, it could take about two years.

The pipeline starts from Asalouyeh in Iran stretching 1,172 kilometres towards Pakistan. The 781 kms long pipeline on Pakistani side will travel through Balochistan where it will branch out towards Karachi. The main line will continue onward towards Multan and beyond. It will deliver 750 million cubic feet of gas on a daily basis. The cost of gas thus imported will be 14.53 dollars mmbtu. According to the terms of an agreement signed by Iran and Pakistan in 2010, if the latter fails to complete its side of the pipeline by 2014, it will be obligated to pay a daily penalty of a million dollars to Iran until the conduit is complete.

The Iranian side of the pipeline is almost complete. The Pakistani part of the project will cost around 1.5 billion dollars. Iran will loan one-third of this sum amounting to 500 million dollars out of which 250 million dollars will be paid directly to the construction firm responsible for laying 80 kms of pipeline inside Pakistan. The next tranche of 250 million dollars will help in laying the remaining 701 kms pipeline. This loan, alongwith a two percent interest plus LIBOR, will be repaid as a fraction of the price of gas. Pakistan will still need to raise sizeable funds in order to see the project through, a task that seems hurculean at the moment in the wake of considerably depleted foreign reserves and a hefty IMF repayment hovering over the head.

Pakistan is highly dependent on natural gas for domestic and commercial consumption as well as electricity generation. Moreover, natural gas also plays a very crucial role in transportation within the country. For years, Pakistan is desperately trying to cope with an acute energy shortage that has all but crippled the economy. Last month, the country suffered a nation-wide blackout that only served to further highlight its exponential energy woes.

The US is vehemently opposed to the project and assumes that the hasty progress of the Peace Pipeline is politically motivated since the energy issue, by all accounts, will play a pivotal role in this year’s general elections. The mandate of the present government will expire in a few days. The ruling party may be planning to use the Peace Pipeline as a gambit for securing votes since the public will perceive it as a practical step towards resolving the energy issue. Moreover, defying the US, or seeming to do so, is extremely popular in Pakistan whose overwhelming public opinion is anti-US despite being the recipient of enormous American aid.

The US has threatened Pakistan with sanctions if it builds the gas pipeline. However, it is more likely that sanctions will be imposed only after the actual delivery of gas starts. Pakistani companies buying gas from Iran may also face US restrictions. The State Department recently criticised Pakistan for wasting its limited resources on such projects. The US is concerned that the Peace Pipeline will enable Iran to evade international sanctions by selling a huge amount of its gas. This will, consequently, blunt US efforts to keep Iran under pressure over its nuclear activities.

In order to address Pakistan’s genuine energy concerns, the US has suggested the trans-Afghanistan pipeline for delivering gas from Turkmenistan to Pakistan through Afghanistan. The pipeline could be extended further to India. Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline, which will effectively bypass Iran, has been on the tables in Washington for several years but could not materialize despite Asian Development Bank’s backing due to the fragile security situation in Afghanistan. The TAPI proposal is, however, still alive and may transpire in the next five years.

Pakistan’s current annual oil import bill exceeds 12 billion dollars. The bulk of the imported furnace oil is used for generating electricity. Importing gas from Iran may prove helpful not only in managing the severe energy crisis but also reducing Pakistan’s import bills to a reasonable extent. However, it is also important to carefully examine the diplomatic costs of carrying on with a geo-politically significant project that is not favoured by the international community.

The writer is an investment banker and a freelance columnist for various publications. He can be reached at syedatifshamim@hotmail.com

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

[Cyberian]

‘Pak-Iran gas pipeline vital for economy’
Sunday, March 17, 2013

KARACHI: Pak-Iran gas pipeline project is vital for the country and we are not afraid of any sanctions as we have already paid a big price in the war against terrorism and USA has not given us any benefits although due to war our infrastructure has been devastated and our poor innocent civilians and soldiers are killed.

Naseem Anwar Senior Vice Chairman SITE Association of Industry congratulated President Asif Ali Zardari President upon groundbreaking ceremony of the project. Our economy is ailing and it would have been peanuts for USA to rescue us but it did not come forward with concrete steps.

The government is going to initiate this important project in view of the energy requirements. This project is being commissioned purely to meet economic needs of our country and it is being executed by two sovereign states of the region. This project will bring economic prosperity, provide better opportunities to the people and help defeat militancy in the region by industrialisation staff report

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

[Cyberian]

Peace Pipeline and the US — Muhammad Omar Iftikhar
Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Despite US opposition, the $ 7.5 billion Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline or the Peace Pipeline is going ahead as planned. The Peace Pipeline initially had three players — Pakistan, Iran, and India — but the latter decided to part from the project in 2009 to avail the US nuclear deal. The Peace Pipeline will help Pakistan end its growing energy crisis that has put its economic wellbeing at stake. Pakistan’s economy is operating below par, which is affecting productivity, causing declining exports, and widening the balance of payments deficit. The Peace Pipeline is a major step forward for Pakistan at a time when its textile and fertiliser sector are showing a decline in output. With long and unexpected power outages, the industrial sector is in peril, which is why the business community has shown feelings of joy and relief over the project.

Iran will soon complete constructing its end of the pipeline; however, the construction of the 780 kilometre section of the pipeline on the Pakistani side will cost Islamabad nearly $ 1.5 billion. Washington never accepted the Peace Pipeline project and had its reservations over the initiative. Even though Pakistan will overcome its energy needs with Iran’s support, the latter’s nuclear ambition compelled the US to oppose the project.

Pakistan is eager to complete the pipeline in due time. However, the US doubts if Pakistan can finance the project. Moreover, analysts believe that the US will impose sanctions on Pakistan for defying Washington’s directives and siding with a country having a nuclear plan that worries the west. In addition, Pakistan might face US sanctions as mentioned in the 1996 Iran Sanctions Act, which allows the US government to ban imports from any non-American company that makes an investment of more than $ 20 million a year in the Iranian oil and natural gas sector.

Even though the Peace Pipeline is expected to provide benefits to Pakistan, it also has an underlining political motive. Analysts view that Pakistan’s ruling party will use the gas pipeline project to amass votes and create a positive public image in the upcoming elections. People are wondering why the government went ahead with the project with only a few days left remaining before the dissolution of the assemblies. Even with a political motive in place, the Peace Pipeline will benefit the state and the credit goes to the president and his team for sealing the deal. Construction on the $ 1.5 billion pipeline is scheduled to be completed by December 2014. If the project goes according to plan, Iran will supply 21.5 million cubic metres of gas per day from its gas field in South Pars to Nawabshah. This will solve Pakistan’s energy crisis and revive industry that fell prey to power outages.

The US not only opposed the project but also suggested Pakistan an alternative pipeline route from Turkmenistan to Afghanistan, Pakistan and to India. Iran andPakistan never accepted the replacement route. Furthermore, India’s presence in the project would have kept both Pakistan and India on the verge of a war-like situation, which would only destabilise the South Asian region. The Peace Pipeline will begin transporting gas to Pakistan from December 2014. However, with the project already marred with delays, the final deadline is yet to be decided.

Prior to the inauguration of the Peace Pipeline project, the US State Department spokesperson, Victoria Nuland said, “If this deal is finalised for a proposed Iran-Pakistan pipeline, it would raise serious concerns under our Iran Sanctions Act. We’ve made that absolutely clear to our Pakistani counterparts.”

The US may impose sanctions on Pakistan for engaging in business-related activities with Iran. According to the Congressional Research Report, Iran is prohibited from selling technology or equipment that aids its energy sector. In addition, Iran lacks the authorisation to conduct business dealings that involve gas or fuels of any type with any country.

Even with the US closely monitoring the proceedings of the Peace Pipeline, President Asif Ali Zardari is hopeful for the many advantages the gas pipeline will bring to Pakistan and views it as a win-win project for Iran and Pakistan. Addressing the gathering at the inauguration ceremony, the president said, “The completion of the pipeline is in the interest of peace, security, and progress of the two countries. It will consolidate the economic, political and security ties of the two nations.” Pakistan’s Foreign Office is repeatedly asserting that Pakistan will not face any opposition from the US and believes that the US will show more understanding on this issue. Only time will tell if Washington comprehends the causes that led Pakistan to go ahead with the Peace Pipeline.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad views the Peace Pipeline as a symbol of resistance against western domination. In the post-9/11 era, Pakistan became a major ally of the US in curbing extremism. However, the Peace Pipeline could put Pakistan in a heap of trouble. Pakistan cannot afford any aggressive diplomacy from the US at a time when foreign aid is crucial for its survival.

The writer is a Karachi-based journalist who writes frequently on regional issues with focus on South Asia

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

[mahazain90]

Thanks for president Asif ali Zardari finally he sign the agreement of pak iran gas pipeline.

 

[Windjammer]

Iran vows to complete Pak pipeline project 'at all costs' by 2014


Peshawar, Apr. 11 (ANI): Taking a tough stand despite increasing pressure from the United States, Iranian Consul General Hassan Darvishvand has said that the long awaited Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline is to be completed "at all costs" by the end of 2014.
Darvishvand, while addressing a seminar titled 'Pakistan-Iran Gas Pipeline Project Agreement - New Era of Relationship', said 110 million cubic feet of gas will be available to Pakistan per day under the project. This, he added, would solve much of the electricity gas shortage in the energy-starved country, reports The Express Tribune.
Darvishvand said the pipeline, originating from Iran's Faras province, would extend over a distance of 1,100 kilometres within Iran, adding that a mere 100 kilometres worth of work is left on the Iranian side of the project. He said 780 kilometres of pipeline will be laid within Pakistan and construction work began a month ago.
Darvishvand said the cost of the project in Pakistan was around 1.5 billion dollars, out of which 500 dollars million will be provided by Iran, while the rest of the cost will be met by the host country.
The envoy said resistance from the United States and Israel had grown stronger in the past three years, showing that the two nations were "threatened by the success of the Islamic revolution". (ANI)

 

[Argus Panoptes]

Iran vows to complete Pak pipeline project 'at all costs' by 2014


Peshawar, Apr. 11 (ANI): Taking a tough stand despite increasing pressure from the United States, Iranian Consul General Hassan Darvishvand has said that the long awaited Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline is to be completed "at all costs" by the end of 2014.
Darvishvand, while addressing a seminar titled 'Pakistan-Iran Gas Pipeline Project Agreement - New Era of Relationship', said 110 million cubic feet of gas will be available to Pakistan per day under the project. This, he added, would solve much of the electricity gas shortage in the energy-starved country, reports The Express Tribune.
Darvishvand said the pipeline, originating from Iran's Faras province, would extend over a distance of 1,100 kilometres within Iran, adding that a mere 100 kilometres worth of work is left on the Iranian side of the project. He said 780 kilometres of pipeline will be laid within Pakistan and construction work began a month ago.
Darvishvand said the cost of the project in Pakistan was around 1.5 billion dollars, out of which 500 dollars million will be provided by Iran, while the rest of the cost will be met by the host country.
The envoy said resistance from the United States and Israel had grown stronger in the past three years, showing that the two nations were "threatened by the success of the Islamic revolution". (ANI)

At all costs? Let us find the billion dollars first, and the rest is easy.