Pakistan, Iran in oil and gas talks

TEHRAN, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Advisers to Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani were in Tehran Wednesday to discuss oil on deferred payments and the so-called Peace Pipeline.

Pakistani officials in Tehran said they have asked their Iranian counterparts to complete the terms of a deal for 50,000 barrels of crude oil on a 90-day deferred payment schedule.

Pakistan already receives 10,000 barrels of crude per day on a 30-day deferred payment.

Iranian Energy Minister Parviz Fattah told Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, meanwhile, that Tehran was interested in the deferred payment plan to help Islamabad deal with a balance-of-payments crisis, Pakistan's The Dawn reported.

Pakistani markets are in a free fall, losing roughly 30 percent of their total value in the past two weeks. The International Monetary Fund offered $7.6 billion credit in an effort to prop up the declining economy.

Both countries are expected to make progress on the $7 billion Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline. Pakistan recently expressed interest in buying the Indian share in the project as tensions between the two nuclear nations simmer in the wake of the November attacks in Mumbai.

The IPI project faces severe diplomatic pitfalls and has been hampered by disputes over price mechanisms.