‘Pakistan will not bow to pressure on IP’

April 13th, 2012

FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda

A spokesman of Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs told reporters in Islamabad that his country is determined to complete the multi-billion-dollar pipeline project with Iran and no external pressure would be tolerated in this regard.

Saudi Arabia — a key ally of the US — has reportedly opposed the IP gas pipeline and sent a message to Islamabad, offering an “alternative package” to meet Pakistan’s growing energy need so that it can abandon the project.

Unnamed diplomatic sources in Pakistan said Saudi Arabia has asked the Pakistani government to reconsider its decision to pursue energy cooperation with Iran, which includes the construction of the IP gas pipeline and purchasing electricity and oil from Tehran.

Saudi Arabia is said to have offered Pakistan a loan for the construction of a new oil facility to bail the country out of its financial and energy crises.

The Pakistani spokesman further added that Russia has offered Islamabad financial assistance for the completion of the IP project, which will take the Iranian natural gas to Pakistan, and noted that negotiations are underway in this regard.

On March 28, Pakistan’s Petroleum Secretary Ijaz Chaudhry said that a Russian company has shown interest in the project investment, estimated in costs at USD 1.5 billion.

Pakistan decided to seek financing from Russia after the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, a state-owned Chinese bank, which had initially agreed to finance the Pakistani section of the IP gas pipeline, indicated that it was no longer interested in the project.

Energy-hungry Pakistan is looking to increase its fuel imports from various sources, including Iran, to reduce power shortages that have crippled the country’s industries and shaved percentage points off its GDP growth.

Washington has frequently indicated its strong opposition to the IP gas pipeline project. An article published in the International Herald Tribune on January 25, said Washington is trying to lure Islamabad away from the project by offering cheaper gas to the country.

The gas pipeline is meant to export a daily amount of 21.5 million cubic meters (or 7.8 billion cubic meters per year) of the Iranian natural gas to Pakistan.

The maximum daily gas transfer capacity of the 56-inch pipeline, which runs over 900 km of Iran’s soil from Asalouyeh in the Bushehr Province to the city of Iranshahr in the southeastern Sistan- Baluchestan Province, has been given at 110 million cubic meters.

NK/SF/AZ/GHN