Islamabad expects gas from Iran by 2014

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Feb. 1 (UPI) -- Pakistan expects to receive natural gas from a pipeline from Iran's South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf within two years, an official said.

Islamabad is trying to address a lingering energy crisis in the country. Officials said liquefied natural gas was too expensive, leaving conventional pipeline deliveries as the primary option.

A national committee on petroleum and natural resources was told by government officials that gas should flow through the Iranian pipeline by 2014. Pakistani Petroleum and Natural Resources Secretary Ejaz Chaudhry said officials were acquiring land for the pipeline, Pakistani newspaper Dawn reports.

The committee added that Pakistan is facing a shortage in natural gas through at least 2020 if nothing is done to allay the crisis.

Islamabad also brokered a price agreement for the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India natural gas pipeline, a Western favorite backed by the Asia Development Bank. Washington favors TAPI because the Iranian pipeline could be an economic boon for Tehran.

Chaudhry said, however, that natural gas would flow through the TAPI pipeline by 2016.