The Indo-Iran gas pipeline through Pakistan may see the light of day if some legal, commercial and security kinks are ironed out, said Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.
Aiyar, a seasoned diplomat who was based in Pakistan for a while, said that he had discussed the issue of energy cooperation with the neighbouring nation during Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri's recent tour to New Delhi.
The two also spoke about the feasibility of the possible gas-pipeline link, the idea for which was mooted in the nineties but could not be followed up following tension between the two nations.
The Indo-Iran gas pipeline issue came up for talks again in late September when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf in the Untied States.
The WSJ quoted Aiyar as having said that no specific meetings on energy issues had been scheduled, but India was keen to sell diesel to Pakistan.
He also told the WSJ that a gas pipeline from Iran to India via Pakistan was 'crucial to ensuring India's energy security,' and that with the relations between the two neighbours improving he was 'quite bullish' over the issue being resolved amicably.
Pakistan too stands to gain from the pipeline over which Islamabad has shown increasing interest. Pakistan can earn up to $500 million in annual fees for allowing the pipeline to pass through its territory and its own energy needs too could be met with such an arrangement, said the WSJ.
As for India's energy needs, which are second only to China's amongst world's developing economies, the country plans to spend over $1 billion a year to acquire oilfields abroad.
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