Iran has operationalised the first phase of the proposed Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline, a USD 1.7 billion project from which India has backtracked.

The project, which is Iran’s 7th cross-country gas venture is regarded as the first phase of the proposed Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline.

The pipeline, which extends 902 kilometers from Assalouyeh in the southwest of Iran to Iranshahr in the southeast will transfer natural gas from the South Pars gas field to some of Iran’s southern provinces.

First Vice President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi and Oil Minister Masoud Mirkazemi attended the inauguration ceremony in Tehran on Monday.

The second section of the pipeline, which is to be about 400 kilometers in length, will be established by Iran’s Khatam-ol-Anbia Construction Headquarters at a cost of 200 to 250 million dollars.

Iran, Pakistan, and India conseptualised the project in the 1990s to promote peace and increase security in the region.

Due to tense India-Pakistan relations, New Delhi stepped back from the later stages of negotiations, although it has never formally withdrawn from the project.

The IPI gas pipeline is a proposed 2,775-kilometer pipeline for delivering natural gas from Iran to Pakistan and India, though the signature of a final deal agreement has been delayed several times over price and political issues.

Iran’s proven natural gas reserves stand at about 1,000 trillion cubic feet, of which 33 per cent is located in associated gas fields and 67 per cent in non-associated gas fields.

Iran has the world’s second largest reserves of natural gas after Russia.