Panel: IPI gas pipeline should be revived

NEW DELHI, March 20, 2017 – The Indian government should revive plans to construct the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline, a parliamentary panel suggested on Friday.

In a report submitted to parliament, the Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Gas said that a business case for the pipeline could be made.

“[…] international conditions have become favourable following lifting of sanctions against Iran,” the panel wrote in its recommendation. When sanctions were imposed on the country in 2008, the IPI gas pipeline was essentially mothballed.

According to India’s Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, the original IPI pipeline had a design capacity to carry 60 mcm (2.1 bcf) of natural gas per day, a volume to be split by India and Pakistan. The required investment for the 2,135-kilometre pipeline was pegged at USD 7 billion at the time.

In its report, the Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Gas added that the should “vigorously” pursue trans-national pipelines, as they constitute “important elements of national energy security.”

In related news, ONGC over the weekend said it had inked an agreement with Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation for the latter’s 80% share in the KG-OS-2001/3 block. First announced in December 2016, the deal was closed for USD 1.2 billion.

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