Pakistan pushes ahead with IPI but delays expected
18 July 2011
Financial constraints, US resistance and security concerns are obstacles to completing the IPI pipeline. (PA)
The Pakistani government has made clear in recent weeks that it is pressing forward with its section of the long-discussed Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) pipeline, setting an ambitious target date of 2014. But although the link could give the gas-starved country a significant boost, high costs and staunch opposition from the United States (US) may hold back the project, while India’s wariness of dealing with Iran and Pakistan will likely keep the third prong from ever coming to life, according to experts.
Work on the pipeline, which would carry about 750 thousand cubic feet per day (Mcf/d) (20.9 million cubic metres per day (MMcm/d)) from Iran’s South Pars gas field to Karachi, will start in six months, Asim Hussain, the Pakistani minister of petroleum and natural resources, told news reporters on 5 July.
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