Pakistan is going ahead with the gas pipeline project with Iran despite the U. S. warning as Islamabad's understanding of the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions Accountability and Divestment Act, 2010, is that it does not impact the long-awaited collaborative venture that is crucial to the country's energy requirements.
“We analysed the new law passed by the U. S. Congress and our opinion is that it does not affect the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline as the sanctions are restricted to investment in petroleum refinement besides oil and gas sectors, said an official. Also, this is an agreement between two governments and Pakistan is exporting; not importing or investing in Iran.
Consequently, both countries are proceeding as per the agreed schedule. Iran is constructing the last 300-km stretch of the pipeline from Iranshahr to the Chabahar port and Pakistan is conducting the feasibility study on its leg of the pipeline from the border with Iran to Nawabshah, the hub of the country's gas pipelines in the province of Sindh.
On his last visit to Islamabad mid-June, U. S. Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke had said there was a possibility of the pipeline running into rough weather because of the sanctions imposed on Iran owing to Tehran's refusal to suspend uranium enrichment that could produce fuel for a nuclear weapon.
While Pakistan officials maintained that he said this only to the media, Mr. Holbrooke was quoted by the American press after a special interaction as saying: “We cautioned the Pakistanis to try to see what the [Congressional] legislation is before deciding how to proceed because it would be a disaster if we had a situation develop where an agreement was reached which then triggered something under the law.”
Though Mr. Holbrooke did not go into the details of the legislation that was being drafted at that juncture, he said it could well be comprehensive and, therefore, cause problems for any company or country doing business with Iran. Primarily, according to the Special Representative, the U. S. had told Pakistan not to commit itself too much into the deal till the contours of the legislation are known.
The U.S. warning came a week after Iran and Pakistan had inked the last in a series of agreements needed to operationalise the deal. As per the agreement, Iran will export more than 21 million cubic metres of natural gas daily from 2014 to Pakistan. The pipeline will facilitate transfer of natural gas from Iran's biggest gas field in South Pars to Pakistan through Balochistan. Iran has already constructed the 907 km-long section of the pipeline from Asalooyeh Energy Zone to Iranshahr.
