Iran even offered to help Pakistan to build its side of the pipeline after Iran finished its own side. Pakistan had trouble with finacing the project. We are the ones under some of the heaviest sanctions, and we still get the job done.
But if Pakistan didnt have money and funds to even build a damn pipeline, how was it going to pay for Iranian gas?
Like I said, we were dumb olaghs for building this project.
Very damaging to Pakistan credibility, for future economic deals and trade agreements.
If you didnt think you could go through with the deal, and now you give US sanctions as excuse (after all these years), then why did you commit to the deal and signt contract in the first place, and shine us on?
Whatever, what's done is done and we should cut the losses. Frankly I dont even care about the compensation fees Pakistan owes. I dont think they will be able to repay it (and probably wont), so why waste energy?
So much work gone to waste!
As far as I know its not because Pakistan can't provide financing for it; yes its going to be difficult....very difficult as most of our funds are tied up in either some other projects or they are tied up in the War On Terror where not only the fighting costs but the rehabilitation costs even more - We've currently got the largest Internally Displaced Population in the world !
Additionally last years or the year before that's floods had ravaged most of Pakistan & we're still reeling from its affects - Millions were affected !
So whereas the funding is going to be supremely difficult it isn't going to be impossible; however the looming US Sanctions which may even take the form of UN Sanctions are a cause for great concern to us !
Pakistan has always maintained that because the Pak-Iran Pipeline Contract was signed before the US Sanctions on Iran - it doesn't fall under its jurisdiction & the project cannot be sanctioned; the Americans categorically tell us something else !
Unfortunately our present economic situation does not allow for us to risk 'sanctions' - We don't export Oil....we export Textile & Agricultural Products with the US being our largest trading partner !
That dependency, which shouldn't have been there, is there but in our present situation either we stand up & say 'foOk it...we'll still built the pipe-line' & in the process be sanctioned which will not only lead to our financial transactions & exports where the US is involved in any-way (and it is involved in almost every way imaginable) being curbed which would lead to eventual bankruptcy but would also lead to our inability to pay for our gas imports from Iran because we wouldn't have any dollar to it !
Furthermore with the advent of the off-shore shale gas drilling & exploration becoming increasingly common the world gas prices are going down whereas as per the Iranian-Pakistani contract they're pegged with Oil - This is increasingly being viewed as an inadequate formula of gas price calculations with, from what I've heard, oil & gas contracts all over the world being talked about being renegotiated as some are right now therefore even from a pricing point of view there is an issue !
But be that as it may even with the current prices we save on a lot of foreign exchange reserve being spent if we can import from Iran instead of importing Furnace Oil via Tankers to fuel our industries & so the Iran-Pakistan Gas Pipe-line is
very important for us to be built because it is beneficial for us but with the looming US Sanctions going for this IP Pipeline would be like
trying to solve a gas shortage issue in your house where you not only get gas but you get it cheaper by doing a deal which propels the power to be (in this just for the purpose of the analogy a Union Council or the Local Government) to impose such a hefty fine on you that not only rolls back any & all benefit accrued from your 'solution to the gas problem' but also ends up eating enough out of your own personal income that you're at a significant Net Loss & all of this, by the way, happens when you're literally hand-to-mouth which is to say you're nearly broke - thats how bad your financial situation is !
What would you do then ?
Pakistan was banking on the recent US-Iran Thaw in relations to help curb these sanctions but increasingly it is appearing to be little more than a red-herring that provided both Iran & the US a breathing space for a few months but it isn't going to affect any of the sanction related problems on the ground - the IP is still going to be sanctioned if we go through with this !
So try to look at it from our point of view as well !
@
rmi5 @
haman10 !
