“Sanctions imposed [against Iran] do not affect the IP gas pipeline project and therefore Pakistan will continue to pursue it,” Express Tribune reported Hussain as saying in a meeting with Washington's Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter.
According to a statement issued by Pakistan's Ministry for Petroleum and Natural Resources, Islamabad needs to meet its energy demands immediately and with this end in view, all options are to be availed.
Last month, the International Herald Tribune reported that the US was trying to lure Islamabad away from the gas pipeline project by offering cheaper gas to the country.
However, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit announced last week that "Islamabad is committed to the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline scheme and the sanctions imposed on Iran will not affect the project."
The Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline aims to export a daily amount of 21.5 million cubic meters (or 8.7 billion cubic meters per year) of the Iranian natural gas to Pakistan.
Maximum daily gas transfer capacity of the 56-inch pipeline which runs over 900 km of Iran's soil from Asalouyeh in Bushehr Province to the city of Iranshahr in Sistan and Baluchestan Province has been given at 110 million cubic meters.
Iran has already constructed more than 900 kilometers of the pipeline on its soil.
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Pakistan's Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Asim Hussain says Islamabad is determined to complete the Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline despite pressure from the US.
News ID 181452
