Govt pursuing import of natural gas from Iran: Minister

New Delhi, Aug 17 (PTI) The Indian government is pursuing
the import of natural gas from Iran under the Iran-Pakistan-
-India project in national interest, the Rajya Sabha (Upper
House of Parliament) was informed Tuesday.
"This is in order to enhance the energy security of the
country. India has proposed holding meetings of Indo-Iran
Joint Working Group on oil and gas and Indo-Iran special joint
working group on the project," India's Minister of State for
Petroleum and Natural Gas Jitin Prasada said.
He said during Question Hour that US officials have from
time to time drawn the attention of the government to
implications of sanctions by UN Security Council and also US
domestic laws on projects like the IPI gas pipeline project.
To a supplementary, Prasada said the IPI project is not on
the backburner.
"We are making all efforts. The project is not sidelined.
Three nations are involved and many technical aspects are
being discussed. Till we are not assured about issues like
pricing of gas, delivery point of gas, project structure,
payment of transportation tariff and transit fees for passage
of natural gas through Pakistan, talks will continue," he
said.
He said efforts are on to get this pipeline to India.
At the same time, Prasada said, the government is speaking
to other nations also as demand for gas has gone up.
"We are not relying on Iran alone and are talking to other
nations also. We have an agreement for 25 years with Qatar,"
the minister added. PTI ASI
RDM


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