Iranian and Pakistani leaders say they've cleared the path for the two countries to sign a deal on the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline, though India still has concerns over pricing and supply.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad led a delegation to Pakistan Monday, prior to stopping in India en route to Sri Lanka.

The proposed pipeline would be 1,700 miles long, sending 3.2 billion cubic feet per day of Iranian gas to Pakistan and 2.1 billion cubic feet per day to India by 2011. China has also expressed interest in receiving gas, suggesting a line extends its way as the country attempts to meet the energy demand of a growing economy. The so-called peace pipeline would cost $7.5 billion.

The Tehran Times reports both Iran and Pakistan are keen on the China link and to sign the Iran-Pakistan agreement shortly.

Ahmadinejad has meetings in New Delhi Tuesday. The Times of India reports India wants to be assured a supply of gas from Iran in the face of pricing disputes. India had previously protested the fee charged by Pakistan.

GAIL in for TAPI pipeline

The Gas Authority of India Ltd. has joined the consortium building a natural gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, the Press Trust of India reports.

The TAPI pipeline from the Turkmen gas field Dauletabad will cost $7.6 billion and transport 3.5 billion cubic feet of gas a day. India will receive 2.1 billion cubic feet daily.

GAIL, the state-run firm, was officially made part of the project last week during a meeting in Islamabad of the steering committee as well as the Asian Development Bank, which marked India's official entry to the project.

There are still a number of issues to be worked out, including overall funding and construction logistics, and pricing. The steering committee spearheading the Trans-Afghan section will meet in New Delhi later this year, the Turkmen State News Agency reports.

The project has also been delayed by the level of violence in the countries and a lack of confirmation of reserves in Turkmenistan by an outside party, The Hindu reports.

Prodi won't head South Stream

The soon-to-be former Italian prime minister, Romano Prodi, has turned down an offer to lead the South Stream natural gas pipeline project, a combined effort of Russia's Gazprom and Italy's Eni.

"Romano Prodi said he was flattered, but declined the proposal to head the company," Prodi's spokesperson said Monday following a meeting with Alexei Miller, the head of Gazprom, RIA Novosti reports.

Prodi was defeated earlier this month in the country's general election.

South Stream is a planned project to send Russian gas below the Black Sea to Bulgaria and into Europe via a split from Hungary, Serbia, Slovenia and Austria and to Greece and Italy.

The project would cost $14 billion and would see 1.06 trillion cubic feet of natural gas a year at capacity, with a start date estimated at 2012.

Scotland refinery strike forces BP to fully shut North Sea pipeline system

BP confirmed it has brought the North Sea Forties Crude Pipeline System to a halt Sunday night as the refinery that feeds the system's heat and power faces a work stoppage.

Workers at the Ineos Grangemouth refinery are turning up heat after the company altered the pension plan. The pipeline system handles 600,000 barrels per day of oil.

"The shutdown of the Forties pipeline is now complete," a BP spokeswoman told the global energy information firm Platts. "Throughput will be restored when the utilities are restored by Ineos Grangemouth."

The spokeswoman also said "broadly speaking, there would be an impact" on North Sea oil fields but couldn't verify each operation.

Production in all North Sea fields connecting to the pipeline system will be shut until the refinery is back online, Platts reports. This knocks off up to 2.5 billion cubic feet of associated gas production a day.

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