DUBAI: Iran will probably abandon a multi-billion-dollar contract to supply gas to Pakistan, the semi-official Fars news agency reported Iran’s oil minister as saying yesterday. “The contract for supplying gas to Pakistan is likely to be annulled,” Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said on the sidelines of a gas forum in Tehran. He gave no details. Under the contract, Iran is supposed to export 21.5 million cubic meters of gas per day to Pakistan from next year. Dubbed as the “peace pipeline”, the $7.5bn project has faced delays since it was conceived in the 1990s to connect Iran’s South Pars gas field to Pakistan and India. Iran has spent hundreds of millions of dollars and nearly completed the 900km pipeline to the Pakistan border. Pakistan, although suffering severe gas shortages, has made little progress on its part of the line due to a lack of funds and warnings it could be in violation of US sanctions on Iran.
- The Peninsula
