ECO-IEST President, Alternative Member to the IPBES Bureau

Energy &
Minerals
The firm will act as the lead contractor
along with the nominated local subcontractor(s).
Under an accord signed in
June 2010, Iran will provide about 21.5
million standard cubic meters (mmscmd)
to Pakistan for 25 years. The deal can be
extended by five years and volumes
may rise to 30 mmscmd.
IP Project Will Create
Jobs
The IP pipeline will deliver 750 million
cubic feet of natural gas per day
(mmcfd / around 21 million cubic
meters per day) to Pakistan by
January 2015. Agreements for setting
up a $4 billion oil refinery with a
capacity of 400,000 barrels per day
(bpd) at Gwadar in Pakistan's southwestern
Balochistan province were
also said to be signed after the ceremony.
It is estimated that the pipeline project
on completion will contribute
about five per cent to Pakistan's GDP
and create 10,000 jobs during construction
and about 3,000 after completion.
The project involves the laying of a 780
kilometer (485 mile) section of the
pipeline on the Pakistani side.
"The completion of the pipeline is in
the interests of peace, security and
progress of the two countries ... it will
also consolidate the economic, political
and security ties of the two nations", the
Presidents said in a joint statement.
The Peace Pipeline
Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) pipeline project
(also called peace pipeline) aimed at
constructing a 1,620-mile (2700 km)
pipeline from Iran's South Pars fields in
the Persian Gulf to Pakistan's major cities
of Karachi and Multan and then further
to Delhi, India.
"Iran is the most geographically convenient
supplier of gas to ECO region energy
consumers and their neighbors. The IP
pipeline can carry 110 million cubic
meters of gas a day. 50 mmcm meets
domestic needs of Iran and the remaining
60 mmcm will go to Pakistan. Iran
will initially transfer 30 million cubic
meters of gas per day to Pakistan, but will
eventually increase the gas transfer to 60
million cubic meters per day", News
Agencies quoted an Iranian official
involved in the project.
Turkmenistan Gas Export
Turkmenistan gas supply is also promising.
Taking into account the recently discovered
huge gas reserves in
Turkmenistan, the ECO Deputy Secretary
General from Pakistan welcomed the
participation of high level Turkmenistan
delegation at the 3rd ECO Ministerial
Meeting on Energy /Petroleum in Tehran
on 6 March and said he is optimistic that
ECO's natural gas importing nations such
as Turkey and Pakistan will also have
secure energy supply from Turkmenistan
and Iran.
"The Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-
Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline project is
considered as another major energy
/petroleum project for gas supply within
the region's markets", DSG Altaf Asghar
told ECO Chronicle.
An inter-state agreement for the construction
of TAPI between the participating
countries was signed in 2010.
Turkmenistan further signed a memorandum
of understanding with Afghanistan
in May 2012. The purchase/sales agreements
of Turkmen gas were signed with
the State Gas Systems of Pakistan and
Indian GAIL ltd." added DSG Altaf
Asghar.
Sustainable Development
of ECO Energy/Petroleum
Resources
With reference to the outcome of
the 9th International Energy
Conference held during 20-21
February 2013 at the TAVANIR
Research Center (Tehran-I.R.Iran) and
the Declaration of the 3rd ECO
Ministerial Meeting on Energy/
Petroleum, DSG Altaf Asghar is of the
view that "The outcome of these
events indicate that all participant delegations
noted the fact that the sustainable
development of ECO
energy/petroleum resources is one of the
key aims of economic cooperation
between ECO members as stipulated in
the Treaty of Izmir. It is also the subject of
the 2011-2015 ECO Energy/Petroleum
Action Plan."
New Methods Required
The ECO Head of States 12th Summit
(Baku October 2012) acknowledged the
importance of cooperation in the energy
sector among the Member States for the
development of their economies and
called on the 3rd ECO Ministerial
Meeting on Energy/Petroleum to consider
relevant initiatives in this regard.
Observers with reference to the fact
that it has become clear that the international
financial system is unable to support
the planned energy/petroleum
investment within the current regional
and global investment framework, and
the aforementioned ECO Summit
Declaration and the 3rd ECO Ministerial
Meeting on Energy/Petroleum
Declaration agree on the idea that additional
instruments and new methods will
be necessary to successfully promote and
enhance the ECO Energy/Petroleum
partnership and cooperation.
ECO CHRONICLE
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