The Dawn reported that the United States is working with Pakistan to help it deal with the consequences if it agrees to abandon the Iran pipeline project.

Ms Victoria Nuland spokesperson of the US department said that “Pakistan is one of the countries that we’re working with, primarily from the US Embassy in Islamabad.”

Ms Nuland said that “We’re talking to countries around the world about the implication of this legislation and our efforts to cut global dependence on Iran.”

The State Department official said that “I don’t have anything specific on where those conversations are leading but we are talking about all kinds of diversification.”

Earlier this month, Mr Barack Obama president of US signed into law new sanctions against Iran. The measure, which Congress passed as part of the 2012 National Defence Authorisation Act, penalizes foreign financial institutions that do business with Iran’s central bank as Pakistan will have to if it buys gas.

The US media reported earlier this week that the US has stepped up efforts to persuade Pakistan to abandon not only the gas pipeline project but also to stop purchasing liquefied natural gas from its western neighbor in return for cheaper gas from US companies.

The reports said that US embassy officials in Islamabad had held several meetings with senior Pakistani officials to learn more about the country’s current LNG import and about the IP gas pipeline project.

US experts quoted in the media say that the Iranian gas will cost USD 12 per million British thermal units while LNG would cost USD 18 per million British thermal units. The United States could help Pakistan buy LNG at USD 4.5 per million British thermal units.

American experts also said that US energy companies have increased gas supply in recent years, causing natural gas prices to fall 5.7% on January 12, to their lowest level in over 2 years. And Pakistan should benefit from this change. The experts also argue that it will be cheaper for Pakistan to import gas from Turkmenistan.

The Pakistanis said that they too knew bringing gas from Turkmenistan would be cheaper but they fear that the situation in Afghanistan would not allow the construction of the proposed Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India gas pipeline.

(Sourced from www.dawn.com)