Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Saturday, Jun 18, 2005
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Saturday, Jun 18, 2005 |
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Industry & Economy
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Petroleum India, US discuss enhancing trade in hydrocarbons sector Our Bureau
New Delhi , June 17 THE US Ambassador to India, Mr David C. Mulford, today had a 45-minute meeting with the Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar. While there was speculation that the two discussed the reported US objections to the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline, both Mr Aiyar and Mr Mulford maintained that they had discussed areas of enhancing bilateral trade in the hydrocarbons sector. "The focus of the meeting was on bilateral issues. The meeting was to talk about common energy problems," Mr Mulford said. On Thursday, the visiting US Assistant Secretary of State in charge of arms control, Mr Stephan Rademaker, had expressed the view that going ahead with the pipeline with Iran "would be a mistake." However, US Embassy officials later put across the point that this was not yet the official view of the US Government. India has been in dialogue with Pakistan and Iran to draw up a framework for the proposed $4.16-billion pipeline. The US has reportedly warned Pakistan of imposing sanctions if it went ahead with the project. The pipeline is expected to meet the growing energy needs of both Pakistan and India. Stating that US wants to be constructive, Mr Mulford said that the proposed pipeline was not an impediment to Indo-US co-operation in the energy sector. Regarding the move by India to tap energy sources in the neighbouring countries, he said that most of the countries were looking at outside sources. India needs 100 million standard cubic metres of gas a day as of today. Imports from countries in the extended neighbourhood, particularly Iran, are the only economic and sustainable source for meeting the country's needs.
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