The Hindu Business Line : Iran's tech pact with Linde clears hiccup in LNG deal

THE technical hiccup on expertise for liquefaction of natural gas may not be an obstacle for Iran-India LNG deal any longer. A national oil company of Iran has tied up with a European hydrocarbon major, Linde, for sourcing the technology.

Concerns were raised about Iran's ability to convert natural gas into liquid form so that its transportation could become easier.

Official sources said that Iran is confident of sticking to the deadline of June 2009 for the gas delivery to India. The technology for liquefaction of gas is vested with some US and European companies. Neither the Indian companies nor their Iranian counterparts have this technology at present.

Besides, the threat of sanctions from the US was said to be a deterrent for these European and American companies from offering this technology to Iran. Attempts were made by the stakeholders in this project to procure this liquefaction technology, sources said. Iran has tied up with one of the licensees of the technology, Linde, sources said.

Further, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas was weighing with the option of asking the Indian firms such as Engineers India Ltd and Indian Oil Corporation Ltd to negotiate the terms for adopting the liquefaction process, sources said. Recently a technical team from Iran was in the Capital to discuss the project.

India and Iran have entered into a $20-billion LNG deal. As per the deal, National Iranian Gas Export Company would export LNG to India for 25 years from the end of June 2009. The exports would start at four million tonnes and then build up to five million tonnes over the first year of contract. The Indian partners in the deal would be Indian Oil Corporation and GAIL (India) Ltd.

On the concerns being expressed on the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project, sources said, Pakistan has been stating that it will reach a final decision on it by December 31. A Pakistani team is expected on July 11-12 to discuss the same.

The project would be beneficial for both India and Pakistan as common consumers of gas, official sources said.

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