Pakistani President May Visit Iran to Sign Gas Deal

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari is expected to visit Iran in near future to finalise a deal on Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project.

Fars News Agency, quoting Pakistani officials, said that that the project would inaugurate on due time, which is December 2014. On Wednesday, Iranian and Pakistani oil ministers inaugurated construction of the 781 km of Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline in Pakistan's soil.

The IP gas pipeline stretches from Iran-Pakistan border to Navabshah region in Pakistan and it covers 781 km of the total 1,881 km of the pipeline.

Demand for natural gas in Pakistan has outstripped supply in recent years, putting existing reserves under immense pressure.

The 2700-kilometer long pipeline was to supply gas for Pakistan and India which are suffering a lack of energy sources, but India has evaded talks. In 2011, Iran and Pakistan declared they would finalize the agreement bilaterally if India continued to be absent in the meeting, Fars News said.

According to the project proposal, the pipeline will begin from Iran's Assalouyeh Energy Zone in the south and stretch over 1,100 km through Iran. In Pakistan, it will pass through Baluchistan and Sindh but officials now say the route may be changed if China agrees to the project, the news agency said.