Iran asks Bangladesh to join pipeline

TEHRAN, Aug. 17 (UPI) -- The Bangladeshi government is considering an Iranian offer to join a long-delayed pipeline project from Iran's South Pars gas field, the government said.

Iran and Pakistan agreed to the finalized terms of a natural gas pipeline stretching from the South Pars gas complex in the Persian Gulf earlier this year.

First deliveries of natural gas through the pipeline are expected in Pakistan by 2015. Islamabad has contracted 750,000 cubic feet of gas per day through the pipeline under the terms of the 25-year deal.

Tehran in a letter to the Bangladeshi government offered an invitation to join the project.

A letter to Iran from the economic relations division in the Bangladeshi Foreign Ministry said the government in Dhaka was considering the measure.

"We have forwarded the letter of Iranian envoy to the energy division," the semiofficial Fars News Agency quoted the Dhaka government as saying. "The division will now chart its own course."

Iran started construction on the pipeline in its territory using domestic engineering companies. Tehran said if the pipeline reaches India as originally planned, Bangladesh could link to the gas line from there.

India was included in the initial plans for the project but stayed on the sidelines since 2008 because of pricing issues with Iran and concerns over the security of the pipeline through Pakistan.