ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, May 20 (UPI) -- Iran and Pakistan will hold another round of negotiations on the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline at a meeting scheduled Saturday in Tehran, officials said.
Asim Hussain, the top energy adviser to Islamabad, will lead a delegation to Tehran in an effort to hammer out gas sale and purchase agreements, Pakistan's Dawn newspaper reports.
"The federal Cabinet has agreed to allow the import of one billion cubic feet of gas at the price offered by Iran, but we will hold a final round of negotiations in a bid to lower the prices," he said.
He added the bulk of the agreements would be finalized during talks slated to run two days starting May 23. Hussain said Pakistan had already tasked German engineering and consulting company ILF with designs for the project.
Gas purchase agreements are expected in June if concessions are reached at the Tehran meeting.
Iran had shifted its position several times on the agreement, moving from a mechanism that pegs the gas price at 44 percent of crude averages to a 78 percent parity. Pakistan had said it would seek a price that is 60 percent that of crude averages.
The proposed 1,724-mile pipeline from the South Pars gas field in Iran would have an initial estimated capacity of 3.8 billion cubic feet of gas per day.
India's role in the project remains uncertain.
