Iran and Pakistan formally signed gas sale and purchase agreements for the Iran-Pakistan pipeline on late Friday in Istanbul, an oil official said.
Hojatollah Ghanimifard, Iran representative in Iran-Pakistan and India pipeline talks told , the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) and the Pakistan Interstate Gas Company (PIGC) signed the agreement late on Friday. The initial agreement was already singed and finalized in presence of both countries presidents on the sidelines of a summit in Tehran in May.
Under the terms of a 25-year contract, Pakistan will receive Iranian gas, which according to Pakistani officials will use to generate about 5,000 megawatts of energy, The estimated cost of the project will be US $1.2 billion.
Ghanimifard said that Kasaeizadeh, MD of National Iranian Gas Exporting Co (NIGEC) and seyyed Hossein Nawab MD of Pakistan Interstate Gas Company (PIGC) exchanged the related documents on the presence of both countries senior negotiators.
The 2700-kilometer long plan IPI project would be run from Iran to Pakistan and India, but with India's withdrawal of talks, the negotiations went on to deliver gas to Pakistan. However Iran and Pakistan have included an article within their agreement that allows India to join the project at an appropriate time.
