India To Import Gas From Iran

India will receive gas from Iran via a multi-billion-dollar pipeline through Pakistan in four years, an Iranian oil official said in New Delhi.

"The gas supply will start in 2011," said Ghanimi Fard, the Iranian oil ministry`s special representative, according to a report Saturday in India`s Business Standard newspaper.

Fard made the comments to reporters after talks that wrapped up on Friday with Indian oil minister Murli Deora and Pakistan petroleum secretary Ahmad Waqar to finalise details for the 7.4-billion-dollar pipeline.

Discussions on the proposal started in 1994, but have been stalled because of technical and commercial issues.

India and Pakistan agreed in February to pay Iran 4.93 dollars per million British thermal units for its gas.

"If Iran`s proposed gas price after three years was not acceptable to us, we will not be able to do much," an Indian official, who was not identified, told the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency.