New Delhi, Oct. 25: The US sanctions against Iran may cloud India’s deal with the latter to import 5 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per annum. This is so because the technology required for the project is with the US and the European companies.

General Electric of the US and Linde of Germany are the two leading companies that make compressors for converting natural gas into liquid form for transporting it on board special cryogenic ships. And, these companies have reportedly expressed their unwillingness to supply the machines because of the US sanctions against the Gulf country.

Iran is trying to rope in the French who also possess the technology. As a step towards that a huge exploration block has been given to Total of France in the vast South Pars field in Iran to produce natural gas. However, the problem is that the French technology has not been tried out commercially as yet and this could delay the long-cherished project.

Iran is also planning to explore the costlier technology of Ukraine if it does not find any other way out. But, this would increase the cost of liquefying the gas. In short, the trouble in sourcing technology may delay the first LNG supply to India by at least two years to 2012, sources said.

National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), which owns the South Pars gas field, was to approve the LNG export deal within three weeks of signing of the sale and purchase agreements (SPAs) between Iran’s gas export firm NIGEC and India on June 12, but the company has not yet done it.

Sources said NIOC approval for the $18-billion long-term deal was expected to come by July 5 but it had sought more financial details of the proposal.

In June this year, three separate sale-purchase agreements were signed between the National Iranian Gas Export Company (NIGEC) and Indian companies ? GAIL (2 mtpa), Indian Oil Corporation (1.75 mtpa) and Bharat Petroleum (1.25 mtpa).

Since the market for Iran to sell its huge reserves of gas has significantly shrunk due to the US sanctions, it is desperate to export the gas to India.

The Indian companies on their part also want a share in the Iranian oilfields as a swap since they are importing this gas at a high cost and providing a market for the next 25 years.