TEHRAN, March 1 (UPI) -- New Delhi has yet to make a formal statement regarding its position on a natural gas pipeline from the South Pars gas field in Iran, officials said.
Negotiations on a natural gas pipeline from the South Pars gas field in Iran have limped along for more than a decade. Islamabad and Tehran offered several February dates for a formal signing agreement, though the measure now seems delayed by at least a month.
Energy-strapped Pakistan secured 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 pipeline signed in 2009.
The project was meant to include New Delhi, though a U.S. deal for civilian nuclear energy and poor ties with Islamabad has kept India at bay.
Hojatollah Ghanimifard, a senior investment official at the National Iranian Oil Co., said New Delhi has yet to make a formal request on the project, Iranian broadcaster Press TV reports.
He said Iran and Pakistan may court a "third country" to the project, offering few specifics.
The Bangladeshi government, meanwhile, said it was considering a gas pipeline to link Myanmar and India, ending years of debate over the project.
