The Hindu Business Line : Action in the pipeline

MUCH INTEREST HAS been generated by the Union Cabinet authorising the Petroleum Ministry last week to negotiate with Iran, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar to lay transnational pipelines for import of natural gas. The authorisation is a clear signal to the the prospective partners in the pipeline deals and the world at large that India will view these as simply business propositions and not link them to politics. But the Cabinet go-ahead is merely the starting point of a long process that may in a few years pipe gas into the country. More important, it means that the Petroleum Ministry, and not the External Affairs Ministry, is now the nodal agency for negotiations with these countries for the pipeline deals. This is possibly to streamline and speed up the process as time is of the essence in the deals being envisaged. But the foreign policy implications and other diplomatic issues will be monitored by a career foreign service officer posted in the Petroleum Ministry.

All this clears the way for the Petroleum Minister, Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar, to begin hard negotiations, especially for the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline that has been discussed for several years now. Indeed, displaying alacrity, Mr Aiyar sent out an invitation to his Pakistani counterpart on the very same evening the Cabinet approved the pipeline talks. With the Foreign Ministry out of the picture the chances are brighter now of the pipeline becoming a reality. One of the major hurdles in the past was India linking the pipeline to transit rights for trade with Afghanistan and Iran through Pakistan. Now armed with the Cabinet's confidence, Mr Aiyar can discuss the pipeline deal independently without linking it with any other issue. Of course, it will take a lot of hard bargaining laced with pragmatism for the deal to be finalised and it would be naïve to take the Cabinet approval as a guarantee of its implementation. One good sign, however, is that Iran has been vested with the responsibility of reaching the gas up to the India-Pakistan Line of Control which means that the issue of transit rights and fees will be negotiated between Teheran and Islamabad without New Delhi's involvement.

Even as this deal enters the delicate negotiation phase, another one on the eastern side of the country is at a similar stage. The Myanmar-India pipeline passing through Bangladesh is as important as the Iran-India pipeline. For one, India's energy appetite is growing and Myanmar has the gas and, two, Indian oil and gas companies, notably Gail India, have acquired interests in exploration acreages in offshore Myanmar where gas has been struck. India has to find a viable and cost-effective way of bringing this gas into the country. Here again, there are some delicate issues that need to be addressed with Bangladesh before the pipeline can move to the planning and implementation stages. While the issues are indeed complex what lends confidence is Mr Aiyar's conviction that the country's energy needs can be met through these pipelines. This, together with the Union Cabinet's backing, will hopefully ensure that these pipelines turn into a reality.

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