Indian Industry Body Calls for Expediting Underseas Gas Pipeline from Iran

An Indian industry body has called for expediting the proposed undersea pipeline project that would bring Iranian gas to India via the Arabian Sea, bypassing Pakistan.

"There is a need now to expedite the undersea gas pipeline from Oman, which is strategically located as a gateway to the Gulf and the Middle East," the Confederation of Indian Industry's (CII) northern region chairman Shreekant Somany said at an Oman-India business meet organised in Delhi jointly by the CII and the Oman Chamber of Commerce, reported Indo Asian News Service (IANS).

Indian company South Asia Gas Enterprise Pvt. Ltd. (SAGE India) has proposed to build the undersea pipeline. The SAGE pipeline would originate at Chabahar on the southern coast of Iran and Ras Al-Jafan on the Oman coast, and after traversing deep in the Arabian Sea, would bring gas to Porbandar in south Gujarat.

Last month, a senior Iranian energy official said that Tehran is ready to negotiate gas export contract with SAGE.

SAGE is promoted by the New Delhi based Siddho Mal Group, in joint venture with a UK-based Deepwater Technology Company. According to the company website, it is working with a global consortium of some of the most reputed companies in the field of deepwater pipelines, to create a multi-billion dollar "energy corridor" that can transport gas from the Middle East to India, bypassing the land route through Pakistan.