India expects to finalise a deal 'by next month' on a pipeline that will transport gas across the subcontinent from Iran, Indian Oil Minister Murli Deora told AFP on Thursday. He said the 7.5-billion-dollar (4.7-billion-euro) project to bring gas from Iranian fields to India and Pakistan had been discussed on the sidelines of the World Petroleum Congress industry event in Madrid.
"We discussed this here again on Wednesday. There should be an end to dialogue now," Deora said in an interview with AFP at the World Petroleum Congress in Madrid when asked about the project. "The only issue is where to take the delivery, the delivery point," he said, adding the two options were on the India-Pakistan border or the Pakistan-Iran border.
"But these things are being sorted out at a very high level now, and I hope by next month things will be okay," he said. Asked when the deal could be signed, he said: "I hope by next month." Deora on Thursday rejected criticism that rising energy demands in India and China were helping to push up oil prices. "I don't think that (issue) should have found place here (at the WPC)," he said.