Major Indian Gas Buyers to Visit Iran Soon: Report
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Representatives of India’s state-run gas utility GAIL as well as Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOL) are scheduled to pay an official visit to Iran soon for key gas talks following the termination of anti-Tehran sanctions, a report said.
The major Indian gas buyers will visit Tehran early in March to push for the revival of a $4.5bln undersea gas pipeline between Iran and India, said a source familiar with the matter, India Times reported on Monday.
The Indian delegation will also discuss a plan aimed at transporting gas from Central Asian Republic of Turkmenistan to India through this pipeline.
Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline was formally launched last in December 2015. The proposed 1,400-km pipeline would transport natural gas via the Oman Sea and Arabian Sea from Iran to India.
India dropped out of the $4.5bln undersea project under US pressure but a recent opening in the business environment in Iran, following the termination of anti-Tehran sanctions, has prompted Indian leaders to make a fresh bid for the pipeline.
Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – the United States, France, Britain, China and Russia – plus Germany started to implement the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on January 16.
After the JCPOA went into effect, all nuclear-related sanctions imposed on Iran by the European Union, the Security Council and the US were lifted.
The nuclear agreement was signed on July 14, 2015 following two and a half years of intensive talks.
