Iran-India Joint Committee to Discuss Pipeline Concerns

According to “Tehran Times”, “Indian Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar’sconcern over the security risks involved in the proposed pipeline totransfer Iran’s natural gas via Pakistan to India does not exclude thepossibility of providing security for the project”, noted, Iranian DeputyOil Minister Hadi Nejad-Hosseinian. He added that there have been varioussuggestions on the methods of protecting the Peace Pipeline – the naturalgas pipeline from Iran to India – that should be reviewed in details withprecision. One suggestion is to assign the tribesmen and the groups residingin each region the task of looking after the pipeline. He referred to theIndian oil officials’ estimates on the increase in the cost of the project,going up from the earlier stated 5.4 billion dollars to 8 billion dollars asa rough estimate. He also noted that specifications of the pipes and theroute have not been yet identified; however, taking price hikes in steelproducts into account, the project costs would probably increase by about 30to 40 percent. The project to send gas from OPEC member Iran toenergy- hungry India was earlier expected to cost $4 billion.