Iran-Pakistan gas line deal postponed, India addition possible
Iran has said an official agreement between it and Pakistan on the so-called peace pipeline could be signed sometime next month.
The Dawn reports a top Pakistan Oil Ministry official said that the details have been agreed to "in principle" to the $7.5 billion project, which would start sending Iranian gas to Pakistan, and potentially India, by 2011.
"Now it is only a matter of time," the source said.
The Press Trust of India reports Islamabad and New Delhi have held a new round of talks on the project. The sides have not agreed to a transit fee and terms of investment.
BOTAS announces study of Iraq-Turkey gas line
Turkey has launched a feasibility study for a natural gas pipeline connecting northern Iraq's fields to the Turkish port, parallel to the oil pipelines.
Iraq has large natural gas reserves but the sector is undeveloped, with much of the associated gas burned with nowhere to go.
Turkey is eyeing Iraq gas as it further solidifies its role as a main transport hub for the world's hydrocarbons.
BOTAS, the Turkish Pipeline Corp., announced it will study its end of the prospective natural gas pipeline to Yumurtalik. It will largely run the same route as the twin oil pipelines from Kirkuk to the Mediterranean port in Turkey, Today's Zaman reports. (The pipeline destination is often referred to as the port of Ceyhan.)
BOTAS and the Turkish Petroleum Corp, TPOA, will head up its side of the project, with the Iraq Oil Ministry handling the Iraqi side. BOTAS will hold the tender for the 30 to 40 inch pipeline and various pump stations, and offer it for bid on the international market.
Once the northern Iraq gas fields are developed, 353 billion cubic feet of natural gas will flow to Yumurtalyk, The Anatolian News Agency reports. That which isn't consumed in Turkey will be loaded onto tankers as liquefied natural gas.
It follows on a memorandum of understanding signed between Turkey and Iraq energy ministers last August, and energy talks between U.S. and Turkish presidents in Washington earlier this month.
Presidents Abdullah Gul and George W. Bush met at the White House and agreed to work together with Iraq to develop its oil and gas sector, Turkish Energy Minister Hilmi Guler told CNN-Turk.
Iraq has 111 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves. The country is also in talks to develop the Akkas gas field in Anbar province, which would send gas to Syria and possibly to Europe as well.
India likely to give Cairn line a go within a month
The secretary to India's oil minister said issues over who will pay for the pipeline from the Rajasthan should be resolved by Feb. 15.
Cairn India wants to recoup its part of the $800 pipeline from the fields to Gujarat under the production sharing contract, but hasn't been able to settle terms with the government.
The Financial Times reports M.S. Srinivasan met with Cairn India's chairman and chief executive over lunch in London Friday. London-based Cairn Energy owns 69 percent of Cairn India. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown also lobbied Delhi on behalf of Cairn.
Cairn India is developing the Rajasthan fields, which Credit Suisse says could produce 190,000 barrels per day at its peak.
Russia, Serbia ink South Stream deal
Russia reached a deal to run the South Stream natural gas pipeline through Serbia, part of an energy pact that saw Gazprom purchase a majority share of Serbia's oil company.
The pipeline would be under the Black Sea from Russia to Bulgaria, and then a branch heading to Austria would cut through Serbia. Europe could receive 30 billion cubic meters a year starting in 2013.
The deal signed Friday capped three years of negotiations, The Moscow Times reports.
Bulgarians protest Russia pipeline
Protesters lined the streets of Burgas, the fourth-largest city in Bulgaria and key link in the Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline sending Russian crude to Greece.
Next month the city will hold a referendum on whether the pipeline should be allowed through it. President Georgi Pavanov said it's an issue "of national significance" that can't be decided by a referendum, Sofia News Agency reports.
There are fears the $900 million pipeline will harm the environment and the tourism industry.
One hundred and three miles of the 174-mile pipeline would be in Bulgaria, delivering an initial capacity of 257 million barrels per day.
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