The Hindu Business Line : Tri-nation workshop on gas pipeline project begins today

IN yet another major step towards realisation of the ambitious tri-nation (Iran-Pakistan-India) gas pipeline project, the technical experts of the three principal countries along with the external experts are set to participate in a two-day workshop to iron out technical details of the project.

The workshop, which begins on January 30, would also help the three countries have a better assessment about the project cost, a senior Petroleum Ministry official said. The cost of the project is currently being estimated over $7 billion.

Senior officials from Iran and Pakistan are expected to attend the workshop, as are officials from GAIL (India) Ltd and IOC, representatives from the National Iranian Gas Export Company (NIGEC), and Pakistan's Interstate Gas Company Ltd (IGCL).

Despite the pressures from the US, Petroleum Ministry officials are optimistic that the ambitious project would still move ahead.

The workshop follows the decisions taken during the recently held bilateral joint working group meetings in Delhi with Pakistan and followed up with Iran in December 2005.

At the bilateral meetings, the countries had worked out a roadmap, which included setting up of technical sub-groups to discuss specifications about the pipeline. Besides, some of the Indian companies - which are global majors in the field - are expected to participate in workshop. Based on the input received at the workshop, further technical discussions would be held on January 31, the official said. The objective is to find out the international best practices in the pipeline construction and whether the indigenous steel plate manufacturers would be able to make the pipelines required for the project, the official added.

Asked to elaborate on the issues that are going to have a major bearing on the technical specification of the pipeline, the official said that the quantum of gas the pipeline would be required to carry and the route of the pipeline would be the two crucial factors.

Currently, India has estimated a requirement of 60-90 million standard cubic metres per day (MMSCMD), while Pakistan envisages requirement of 30-50 MMSCMD.

It is still to be finalised whether the quantity envisaged would require construction of one pipeline or two.