TEHRAN, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Iran insists it can alleviate a potential energy crisis in Pakistan by moving forward with the Iran-Pakistan-India natural gas pipeline.
Iran is eager to deliver gas from its giant South Pars gas field through the long-delayed IPI project. Tehran and Islamabad agreed on a comprehensive deal for the pipeline earlier this year.
Pakistan is slated for 750 million cubic feet of natural gas per day from the South Pars gas field in Iran as part of a 25-year deal for the proposed 1,724-mile IPI pipeline.
Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency reports Pakistan is facing a gas shortfall in 2010 of nearly 2 billion cubic feet per day.
Domestic consumers in Pakistan, IRNA said, are using wood and other forms of fuel for cooking as natural gas supplies dwindle.
Tehran said Pakistan should lobby aggressively for the IPI project in order to overcome its energy crisis, noting Iranian gas is more than adequate to compensate for shortages.
The role for India in the project remains in limbo. New Delhi said it would join IPI provided security along the pipeline route in Pakistan was guaranteed. It also asked to receive the gas from Iran on the Pakistani border only if Iran made pledges on gas flows to India.
