Work on extending the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline will commence within the next six months and is set to be complete by 2014. Approximately 1100km of the 2700km pipeline has already been completed on the Iranian side of the border, extending from the South Pars field to the frontier with Pakistan. The energy crisis in Pakistan has resulted in a gas shortfall of 2.5 billion cu/ft, but Iranian sources expect that the pipeline will deliver over 740 million cu/ft of gas per year. Iran holds the world’s second-largest reserves of natural gas; its fields produce 5.5 trillion cu/ft per year. Supply from the USD 7.4 billion pipeline to Pakistan will help fix chronic power shortages which cost Pakistan 2% of its annual GDP and damage 25,000 industrial enterprises. The country’s own oil and gas supplies are forecast to be depleted by 2025 and 2030 respectively.
