UN decision scuppers plans to build gas pipeline

18 May 2015

Pakistan’s seabed territory extended over area of planned $4bn infrastructure project

The project to build an undersea gas pipeline to India from Oman and Iran may have to be cancelled due to a new UN decision extending Pakistan seabed territory, according to a report in the Indian Express.

The estimated $4bn project, proposed by South Asia Gas Enterprise (Sage), has been in the study phase for several years and has failed to make significant progress.

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in a decision on 19 March agreed to extend Pakistan’s seabed territory by 150 nautical miles. This gives Islamabad special rights over the use of the seabed in the planned area of the pipeline.

The pipeline was planned to transport up to 1.1 billion cubic feet a day (cf/d) from Chabahar in Iran and Ras al-Jifan in Oman to Porbandar in Gujarat state, northwestern India.

Read more on the project: Middle East to India Gas Pipeline

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