New Delhi: Price was a major issue of discord on Thursday as trilateral talks began on the proposed multi-billion dollar gas pipeline project from Iran to India via Pakistan.
"There is a huge difference in the gas price. What the seller seeks is more than twice that the buyer is willing to pay for the gas," Iranian Deputy Oil Minister for International Affairs Mohammad-Hadi Nejad-Hosseinian told reporters here.
"The pricing remains a huge, unresolved issue," India's Petroleum Secretary MS Srinivasan added.
Ahmed Mukhtar, the energy advisor to the Pakistan prime minister who is heading his country's delegation, also echoed similar sentiments.
Iran is keen to get a gas price that is linked to international crude oil prices. But India and Pakistan want energy supplies at more affordable tariff, officials said.
The last meeting of oil secretaries in Islamabad May 22-23 broke down after Iran sought $7.2 per million British thermal unit (mBtu), with a three percent annual escalation - more in tandem with the international crude oil price.
But India indicated its willingness to pay not more than $4.25 dollars per mBtu for gas delivered at the border.
India wants to import 90 million standard cubic meters (mmscmd) of gas per day from Iran through the 2,100-km pipeline while Pakistan has indicated a requirement of up to 60 mmscmd, officials said.
"The price would be the final clinching point. It will determine the quantities India and Pakistan would be able to import since affordability is a key factor for sustained off-take of supplies," an official said ahead of the meeting.
Nejad-Hosseinian had last month indicated in a media interaction in Tehran that Iran may seriously look at offers from Thailand, China or Europe for the gas supplies if the price issue is not resolved with India and Pakistan.
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