Iran is planning to push ahead with a cross-border gas pipeline with Pakistan after the Islamabad government ratified a $1.5bn agreement at the end of January, according to Pakistani media.

A contract is expected to be signed between Iran’s Tadbir Energy and Pakistan Interstate Gas Company (ISGS) for the engineering, procurement, construction (EPC) and financing of the 785-kilometre Pakistan segment of the pipeline.

Iran has already built its 1,100-kilometre section of the proposed pipeline, which stretches from Iran’s South Pars gas field in the Gulf to Pakistan’s western Balochistan province. It is designed to supply Pakistan with an initial 750 million cubic feet a day (cf/d) of gas.