Gas prices to be reviewed with Iran, said Petroleum Minister

Gas prices to be reviewed with Iran, said Petroleum Minister

Petroleum Minister Pakistan, Dr. Asim Hussain tld media that gas prices will be reviewed with Iran.

“We will definitely renegotiate gas price with Iran. The (gas sales and purchase) agreement with Iran provides for price renegotiation before the commencement of gas flows,” said Minister.

Pakistan agreed with Iran to purchase 750 million cubic feet per day of natural gas. The plan to import the natural gas is expected to take place in December 2014 under the pipeline deal of $3.6 billion.

Hussain told that the reason to negotiate the price with Iran is the price offered by Turkmenistan. He said that the Turkmen gas would be 10% cheaper than the gas offered by Iran.

The petroleum minister further told, “We expect to secure from Iran and the one we have already finalised with Turkmenistan a cumulative saving of about $100 billion over a period of 25 years with the two projects”.

The gas agreement between Pakistan and Turkmenistan will be initiated during the Turkmen President’s visit. The transit fee for the pipeline in Afghanistan is not yet clear. Therefore, the signing of the agreement between these two
will take some time.

Minister added, “Turkmenistan claims the transit fee (in Afghanistan) would be lower but we think it would be higher, so we have to take into account the transit fee risk factor before signing the formal agreement.”

The assessment for the project route is completed and its engineering design details are expected within next 15 days. In this month, tendering for the pipeline and other long-lead items is also expected.

The Minister also focused on the current situation of the gas shortfall. He discussed the reasons which caused the downfall of many sectors in our country, due to the gas shortfall.

He gave the hope that the government is taking steps and will surely control the shortfall of our country. He articulated that in 2013, there will be no shortfall and the different sectors of the country would be back to normal.

Nevertheles, he told that the load-shedding of gas for industry and CNG stations will take place as per the determined schedule and no changes will be made to the plan for now.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=3525

Posted by Mursil Mehmood Butt on Nov 14 2011. Filed under Latest News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry