By Rhod Mackenzie
Pakistan has sent a force majeure and exculpatory notice to Iran, as a result of which it suspends its obligations to build the Mir gas pipeline
This was stated in the National Assembly (lower house of parliament) by the Minister of State for Oil M. Malik.
Minister's theses:
the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project stalled due to international sanctions against Iran;
Project activities will start as soon as:
sanctions against Tehran will be lifted,
there will be no threat that sanctions will affect state-owned enterprises;
*given this, it is impossible to name the date of completion of the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project;
Pakistan's notification and Iran's challenge to its validity can only be finally settled through international arbitration if Iran submits the matter to arbitration; the exact amount of the fine, if any, will depend on the outcome of the court case.
Commenting on the official's statement, it should be noted that Pakistan has acknowledged its inability to continue this joint cross-border energy project with Iran as long as Washington's sanctions on Tehran remain in place or until it receives permission from Washington to complete the construction of the gas pipeline.
Last week, Iranian Foreign Minister H. Abdollahian, during his 3-day visit to Islamabad, emphasized the need to complete the project, saying that it would definitely serve the national interests of both the two 2 countries .
In February 2023, it became known that the Iranian authorities were ready to file a claim against Pakistan in the amount of $18 billion in an international court for delaying the construction of the pipeline.
In this regard, the Pakistani Foreign Ministry appealed to the United States with a request to provide funds to pay a possible fine for an unfinished gas pipeline or to allow Islamabad to purchase gas from Tehran, but the American side left this request unanswered.
The Pipeline
The Pakistani state company Interstate Gas Systems and the Iranian Iranian Gas Company signed an agreement on the construction of a gas pipeline back in 2009:
Pakistan had pledged to build its 800 km section of the pipeline by January 2015, but its construction to date has been subject to never ending delays.
The route through the territory of Pakistan - via the seaport of Gwadar, from where gas should have been delivered to consumers in the central regions;
The Iranian section to the border with Pakistan with a length of 1150 km has long been built and is ready for operation:
The Iranian part of the gas pipeline is laid from the gas field in the Eseluye region along the coast of the Persian and Oman gulfs to the border with Pakistan;
According to the initial project, the gas pipeline with a total length of 2.7 thousand km and a cost of $1.5 billion was supposed to stretch from Iran through Pakistan to India:
It was expected that the MGP will be put into operation in 2014 ,
the construction was delayed after India refused to participate in the project due to high risks, citing problems with ensuring the safety of the gas pipeline in the Pakistani section;throughput capacity - 21 billion m 3 / year of natural gas ; the resource base is the South Pars gas field in Iran.