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Onland Iran-India gas pipeline most viable: Analysts

A natural gas pipeline linking Iran and India via Pakistan would be more secure and less expensive than a deep sea link, the director of India's Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses said on Wednesday.

That is provided a multinational firm and multilateral funding were involved in building it, Jasjit Singh told reporters.

India and Iran are exploring the possibility of a deep-sea gas pipeline and have decided to appoint a consultant to conduct a feasibility study.

A joint team of Indian and Iranian officials is also weighing the option of a 2,500-km pipeline from Iran to northwest India via Pakistan.

But New Delhi, whose relations with Islamabad continues to be strained, has reservations about the Pakistan option.

Iran has the second largest reserves of natural gas in the world but has failed to develop export markets. Energy-hungry India faces growing demand for natural gas.

Singh said energy experts from 24 countries including India, Pakistan and Iran would attend a two-day seminar starting next Tuesday.

He said India should expand its sourcing of oil and gas and increase access from the Gulf, Central Asia and Bangladesh to build energy security for its rising imports.

Building strategic reserves of crude oil was also required to insulate the country from price and supply shocks, Singh added.

He said India's oil import dependency was estimated to climb to 78 per cent by 2024-25 from the present 70 per cent and that of gas to 91 per cent from present 53 per cent.

ONLAND BETTER

Singh said a deep-sea pipeline would cost six to 10 times more than an onland pipeline. The onland project is estimated to cost $3 billion.

The presence of a multinational would make Pakistan more responsible in ensuring security for the pipeline, he said.

"Unlike a deep sea pipeline, Pakistan would be bound by global treaties and agreements for providing security to the pipeline and would be obliged to repair faults within a timeframe and pay damages for disruptions in operations."

Singh said economic considerations would override political and military tensions as in the case of sharing of water from the river Indus.

"The flow of oil and gas through Pakistan is no way different from the flow of water from India," he said, adding the two neighbours have shared water under the Indus Valley Treaty for the past 40 years.

"In spite of three wars, water supplies from the Himalayas to Pakistan have not been disrupted even once," he said.

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