Bangladesh mulling Iranian offer to join 'peace pipeline'

Energy-hungry Bangladesh is examining an offer from Tehran to join a much-delayed project to pipe natural gas from Iran to Pakistan and India, an official said Tuesday.

Last month, Iran formally invited Bangladesh to join the long-stalled 7.5-billion-dollar transnational gas pipeline, dubbed the "peace pipeline", Bangladesh's energy secretary Mesbahuddin Ahmed told AFP.

"We have sought more information on the offer, which we will examine," he said. A spokesman for the Iranian Embassy in Dhaka confirmed the invitation.

The pipeline plan would see gas carried from Iran, which has the world's second-biggest reserves after Russia, to Pakistan and then India.

New Delhi has hesitated over the project because of repeated disputes about prices and transit fees and its volatile relationship with Pakistan.

But Hossain Mansur, the head of Bangladesh's state-owned energy giant Petrobangla, told AFP: "Personally, I'd welcome the offer."
Bangladesh has offshore gas fields, but the country's energy reserves are being depleted fast, Mansur said.
The government estimates current gas reserves will run out by 2014-15 at present consumption rates unless new gas structures are discovered.

The country has been grappling with a severe gas crisis in the past three years, with demand shooting up to 2,500 million cubic feet a day, against a supply of 1,950 million cubic feet a day.