Iran gives India 4 months to join gas deal

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TEHRAN,Nov14(Agencies) : Iran Tuesday gave India a four-month deadline to formally agree its participation in a multi-billion dollar project to transport Iranian gas to India via Pakistan.
The warning came after Iran and Pakistan Saturday finalised the content of the 7.4-billion-dollar gas export deal - originally a tripartite project - which is scheduled to be signed within a month.
"I don't think we would wait for them (India) more than three or four months," National Iranian Gas Exports Company Managing Director Nosratollah Seifi told reporters.
He, however, hoped that New Delhi would still join the much-delayed project, under which energy-poor India would receive 30 million cubic metres (one billion cubic feet) per day of Iranian gas.
"I think India will join the gas exports project because of its extreme and immediate need for energy," he said. Seifi said the delay by India, an increasingly important US ally, was due to both energy and political issues.
"They have domestic issues and we understand this. They think about whether to use nuclear energy... there are also foreign pressures." In New Delhi, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said India remained interested in a deal.
"Before the next tripartite meeting, a bilateral meeting between India and Pakistan is necessary to decide on transportation tariff, transit fees, etc, and a common stand on the price revision clause proposed by Iran," he told a media conference.
"We are finalising the dates for such a meeting." Talks on the project to supply gas to India via Pakistan and Pakistan itself through a 2,600-km pipeline began in 1994, but were stalled by tensions between India and Pakistan.