Photonews Logo Photonews logo
  • Home
  • Pakistan
    • Punjab
    • Sindh
    • Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
    • Azad Jammu Kashmir
    • Balochistan
    • Gilgit – Baltistan
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Videos
    Gen V Season 2 trailer
    Videos

    Gen V Season 2 Trailer Cast, Plot, Premiere Details

    July 26, 2025 3 Min Read
    IShowSpeed Daniel La Belle race
    Videos

    IShowSpeed Beats Daniel La Belle in 40-Meter Race, Hits 41M Subscribers

    June 24, 2025 2 Min Read
    Cardi B new single Outside
    Videos

    Cardi B’s ‘Outside’ Single Sparks Buzz Over Offset and Stefon Diggs

    June 20, 2025 2 Min Read
  • Sports
  • Technology
  • Offbeat
  • Blog
  • Contact
Reading: Iran deal fuels tussle for gas pipelines in Pakistan
PhotoNews Pakistan PhotoNews Pakistan
Font ResizerAa
Search
  • Home
  • Pakistan
    • Punjab
    • Sindh
    • Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
    • Balochistan
    • Azad Jammu Kashmir
    • Gilgit – Baltistan
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Videos
  • Sports
  • Technology
  • Offbeat
  • Blog
  • Contact
Have an existing account? Sign In
Follow US
© 2022 Photonews. All Rights Reserved.
Iran Pakistan Gas Pipline Project
PhotoNews Pakistan > Pakistan > Iran deal fuels tussle for gas pipelines in Pakistan
Pakistan

Iran deal fuels tussle for gas pipelines in Pakistan

Web Desk
By Web Desk Published July 23, 2015 6 Min Read
Share
Iran and Pakistan's flags featured world map
SHARE

Islamabad: A landmark deal on Iran’s nuclear programme has breathed new life into plans for a gas pipeline through Pakistan — and sparked a geopolitical tussle, with Russia looking to expand its influence, observers say.

With sanctions on Iran likely to ease and peace talks between the Taliban and Afghan government getting under way, wrangling is intensifying over the proposed pipelines, which would link Central Asia to the Middle East.

Islamabad last week hailed the nuclear deal, struck after long negotiations in Vienna, as reviving a stalled project to pipe gas from Iran’s southern fields to energy-starved Pakistan.

The South Asian state is desperate for solutions to a long-running power crisis that has sapped economic growth and left its 200 million inhabitants fuming over incessant electricity cuts.

The $7.5-billion Iran-Pakistan (IP) pipeline was inaugurated with great fanfare in March 2013 — but the project immediately hit quicksand in the form of international sanctions on Tehran, which meant cash-strapped Pakistan struggled to raise the money to build its side.

Pakistan’s Minister of Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said the Vienna deal should allow Islamabad to make good on its agreement to finish the pipeline and buy Iranian gas.

“Now hopefully, as the sanctions are removed, it facilitates us to address our energy need and also meet the contractual obligation,” Abbasi told AFP.

Tehran has already built its part of the 1,800-kilometre pipeline which should eventually link its South Pars gasfields to the Pakistani city of Nawabshah, close to the economic capital Karachi.

As part of an ambitious $46 billion economic corridor linking western China to the Middle East through Pakistan, Beijing recently started work on the section of the pipeline between Nawabshah and the port of Gwadar, close to the Iranian border.

Once this is completed, Pakistan will build the last 80 kilometres to Iran — before the 2018 general election, the government hopes — and it could in future extend the connection northeast to China, according to government sources.

Russia is interested in supporting the IP pipeline through energy giant Gazprom, according to the Russian embassy in Islamabad.

Moscow has historically had closer relations with India, Pakistan’s neighbour and great rival, but is pivoting more to Islamabad as New Delhi and Washington become closer allies.

Yury Barmin, an analyst specialising in Russia’s Middle East policy, said that by using the IP pipeline to get closer to Pakistan, Moscow wanted to show India it had other options in the region.

“At the same time Russia really wants to explore commercial opportunities for its defence industry in the wider MENA (Middle East) region, and Pakistan is probably the only remaining untapped market for Moscow in that sense,” Barmin told AFP.

Islamabad and Moscow signed a defence cooperation agreement in November last year.

The two countries are also close to finalising an agreement to build a gas pipeline linking Karachi, which has an LNG terminal, to Lahore, said Mobin Saulat, the CEO of Inter State Gas Systems, the publicly-owned company in charge of gas pipelines in Pakistan.

Saulat told AFP these moves meant that the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline (TAPI), an even more ambitious project, would likely take a back seat for now.

“LNG is happening already, we have the supply in place, the happening of IP with the latest development is of course next. And TAPI, in the list, will come at the end,” he said.

TAPI, valued at up to $10 billion, would pump gas from Turkmenistan to Pakistan and India, through Afghanistan.

But it is politically complex, requiring cooperation between at least four governments, and logistically challenging, as the pipeline would pass through areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan plagued by Taliban and separatist insurgents.

The Taliban’s summer offensive is in full swing but there is hope for peace after militant and government representatives met for talks in Pakistan a fortnight ago.

Last September France’s Total was working to take the lead on TAPI, but the rise of Russian interest could change the field.

“They are talking to three companies, Total is number one and then a Russian and a Chinese company. Total definitely is the most advanced in the talks,” Pakistan oil minister Abbasi said, citing briefings from the TAPI steering committee.

Russian participation in TAPI would eventually allow Moscow to connect the pipeline to others in the former Soviet Union, Barmin noted.

But there could be more trouble ahead. The CEO of Rostec Sergey Chemezov, considered close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, is himself the subject of US sanctions over the Russian annexation of Crimea.

TAGGED:Pak­istan
Share This Article
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Whatsapp Whatsapp LinkedIn Email Copy Link Print
Leave a comment

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Advertisement

HBL Saving Made Easy
HBL Saving Made Easy

Recent Posts

PTA Chairman reinstatement

IHC Reinstates PTA Chairman Hafeez-ur-Rehman After Day of Legal Drama

NADRA Mega Centers in Karachi

NADRA Opens 3 New Mega Centers in Karachi

Imran Khan letter CJP Yahya Afridi from Adiala Jail

Imran Khan Writes Emotional Letter to CJP from Adiala Jail

Post Archives

More Popular from Photonews

Lewis Hamilton Ashley Moore
Sports

Lewis Hamilton Sparks Romance Rumors with Model Ashley Moore

3 Min Read
Pakistan floods IMF Review
Business

IMF to Review Pakistan’s Budget Agility Following Devastating Floods

2 Min Read
PSX KSE-100 rally
Business

PSX Soars 800 Points as KSE-100 Reclaims 156,000 Mark

3 Min Read
Sports

Pakistan Secures Referee Pycroft’s Removal from Asia Cup 2025 Matches

Match referee Andy Pycroft will likely be removed from Pakistan’s remaining Asia Cup 2025 matches following…

September 17, 2025
PakistanTop News

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia Sign Historic Mutual Defence Agreement

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed a landmark Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement (SMDA) in Riyadh. The pact,…

September 17, 2025
Entertainment

Robert Redford, Hollywood Legend, Dies at 88

Robert Redford, the acclaimed actor, director, and activist, passed away at his home in Utah at…

September 16, 2025
Entertainment

Lily Collins’ Thin Appearance at NYFW Sparks Fan Concern

Lily Collins appeared at the Calvin Klein show during New York Fashion Week. The Emily in…

September 14, 2025
PhotoNews Pakistan

Always Stay Up to Date

Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!

Categories

  • World
  • Pakistan
  • Punjab
  • Sindh
  • Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
  • Balochistan
  • Azad Jammu Kashmir

 

  • Top News
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • Videos
  • Tech
  • Offbeat
  • Blog

© 2024 Phototnews
All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Lost your password?