By IRNA
Islamabad : Pakistan cabinet committee on Tuesday approved the gas sale and purchase agreement of the
Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project, an official announcement said.
The gas sale and purchase agreement was initiated during talks on December 18, 2007, and to be signed by ISGC on the Pakistan side, a statement from the Prime Minister House said.
The approval was accorded in a meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet (ECC), chaired by Prime Minister Mohammadmian Soomro.
The statement said that Pakistan will make a formal request to the Iranian side to allocate an additional volume of 1.05 Bcfd, to Pakistan in case India does not join the project.
The Prime Minister appreciated the efforts of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources as well as all those involved in the negotiations and finalization of agreement with Iran for Gas Supply to Pakistan, it said.
The sale and purchase agreement includes issuance of the Government of Pakistan guarantee to back agreements with Pakistan’s state-owned Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited & Sui Southern Gas Company for resale of imported gas on terms similar to those contained in the Iranian GSPA.
The Prime Minister asked the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources to complete formalities of the project.
The ECC commended the efforts of the present Secretary and the former Secretaries and the Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources to make this project a reality.
The Prime Minister said that the country needed much more energy to overcome the gap in demand and supply and also reduce the cost of power generation with the help of gas project.