Aiyar: Deal-maker

New Delhi, March 9: The memorandum of understanding for the Myanmar-Bangladesh-India gas pipeline is likely to be signed ?shortly? in Dhaka. The energy ministers of the three countries will sign the agreement, petroleum minister Mani Shankar Aiyar informed the Lok Sabha today.

The minister stated that a draft MoU was prepared at the ?technical level? in Yangon on February 25 after the tripartite minister-level discussion between the three countries that took place in the same city earlier. This will now be taken up at the ministerial level again in Dhaka. The minister stated that the negotiations with Iran on the pipeline through Pakistan were still at ?an initial stage?.

He also stated that India has asked Iran for further details on a proposal to set up an Asian bank for energy development to finance energy projects.

Iran had floated the proposal to establish a financial institution that could effectively back-up energy projects, at the first round-table conference of Asian ministers on regional co-operation in oil and gas.

The details of the project have been sought from the Iranian side so that these could be further considered by the international energy forum secretariat in preparation for the second energy round table to be held in Saudi Arabia.

India has played an instrumental role to bring the Asian buyers and sellers of oil and gas together in an attempt to establish greater co-operation between Asian nations in the hydrocarbon sector.

The strategy envisages transnational investments, which will promote a common economic interest in the oil and gas sector. The setting up of transnational oil and gas pipelines forms an integral part of this strategy.

The minister said the demand for natural gas in the country far exceeded the supply. As against an allocation of 120 million standard cubic metres per day (MMSCMD) of gas only 84 MMSCMD was available, including 9 MMSCMD of regasified liquefied natural gas from Petronet LNG.