Pakistan is determined to build a gas pipeline with Iran despite the threat of US sanctions said Advisor to the prime minister on Petroleum Dr Asim Hussain.
“Can America guarantee us that they will never make friends with Iran?” Asim said. “Will Iran never come to terms with the world order? And if someone can give us that guarantee then we will not build that infrastructure,” he added.
However, with the window still open-though barely-for improvement in Iran’s diplomatic standing, Pakistan presumably is not willing to stop laying the infrastructure for the gas pipeline, as officials claim Pakistan is a depleted nation facing a chronic energy crisis.
President Asif Ali Zardari and his Iranian counterpart, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, are scheduled to inaugurate the gas pipeline project near the Pakistani border town of Gabd, Balochistan, on Monday. Many head of states and foreign ministers have been invited to attend the ground-breaking ceremony, but Iranian diplomats and Pakistani officials in Islamabad declined to share the names of the dignitaries.
Both countries will also sign a memorandum of understanding to build Pakistan’s largest oil refinery at the south-western port city of Gwadar costing $4 billion. Pakistan hopes that this may prompt China, which was granted a contract last month to run the port through a state-owned company, to join the gas pipeline project and partner in building the refinery.
Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesman said China has not shown interest in the gas pipeline project, however Iran agreed to provide Pakistan with $500 million for construction of a third of the total length of the pipeline, which an Iranian company will undertake.
Washington strongly opposes the project, as it tries to cripple Iran economically for continuing its controversial nuclear program, suspected of developing atomic weapons. Though Tehran disputes that charge, the US and its allies say Iran has not provided sufficient evidence that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.
The US State Departments spokesperson Victoria Nuland said US has made it absolutely clear to Pakistan that if the pipeline deal is finalised, it would raise serious concerns under the Iran Sanctions Act.
The United States said it was aiding and assisting Pakistan to overcome its energy deficit by supporting large-scale turnkey projects through renovation and modernisation of power plants and building new dams.
But Pakistan says what it is getting is not enough. According to the Ministry of Petroleum, the projects have not taken off and the completion time-frame is not suitable to them.
“If you talk of giving something after 10 years, that does not make sense to us,” said Dr Hussain. He continued, “We need immediate gas, and we were not helped in getting LNG (liquefied natural gas) in any way.”
For Pakistan, the shortest and easiest way to get LNG supply in the country is Iran, and Pakistani officials are not willing to abandon the project under US pressure, even with sanctions possible.
Nuland said moving forward in that direction would cause sanctions to kick in, but Pakistan thinks the US ultimately will grant a waiver similar to the ones it has granted to India, China, and Turkey, all of which import oil from Iran.
