Azernews.Az

The Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project will be completed by 2012, Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Asim Hussain said talking to a private news channel on Wednesday, Associated Press of Pakistan reported.

Iran has completed its work on laying pipeline while Pakistan would resume its work within six months, he told.

Hussain added that survey on Pak-Iran gas pipeline project was launched and it is expected to complete the whole task by the end of 2014.

The estimated cost of the project is $1.2 billion and the talks with different companies for laying the pipeline on Pakistani side are in progress, he said.

The minister said that feasibility report was being prepared and after this process, the tenders would be invited for choosing the best companies so that the project could be completed in a proper manner.

"Our dependence on Pak-Iran pipeline was very high and there is no other substitute at present to meet the growing demand of the energy," he said.

Hussain expressed hope that shortage of gas would be improved by the start of next year. In order to avoid shortage of petrol in future, he said four more storage units have been made.

The steps have been taken to import LNG and some 17 companies are showing keen interest to provide gas to Pakistan in order to meet its energy demand, he said.

Hussain revealed that steps are being taken to import LPG from different multi-national companies.