Pakistani To Push Ahead With IP Gas Pipeline Project

Islamabad, Oct 10, IRNA -- The government of Pakistan has reiterated its resolve to push ahead with the $1.5 billion Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline project, recalling that its neighbour was the first Muslim country to recognise Pakistan after its creation, a media report said on Tuesday. ‘Express Tribune’ quoted Inter-State Gas Systems (ISGS) Managing Director Mubeen Sulat as telling a seminar on ‘Pakistan’s Potential in Oil and Gas Sector’, organized by the Petroleum Institute of Pakistan (PIP), that Pakistan and Iran had made a “lot of progress” on the project. “Iran has completed almost 90% of work on the gas pipeline and we have completed a detailed engineering survey and a bankable feasibility study for the gas import project, which has entered the implementation stage,” he said. Pakistan will import 750 million cubic feet of gas per day (mmcfd) under the IP pipeline project, with the first flow scheduled for December 2014. “We are now approaching the phase of awarding construction contracts for the pipeline,” he added. In his inaugural address, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Petroleum and Natural Resources Dr Asim Hussain stressed upon exploration and production companies operating in Pakistan to support the Petroleum Institute of Pakistan (PIP) and to help develop it into a think tank for policy initiatives for the oil and gas sector. He said that the government had prepared the National Mineral Policy 2012 to meet the challenges of large-scale mining and to enhance international competitiveness. Oil and Gas Development Company Limited MD Masood Siddiqui said that incentives announced in the new petroleum policy had had a direct impact on exploration activities. “We have revised our drilling target for June 30, 2013 from 28 to 35 wells,” he said, adding that oil and gas production would also increase due to enhanced exploration activities./end