AFGHAN-TURKMEN-PAK PIPELINE SIGNED AT THE COST OF IRAN
By Parviz Sahra’i, IPS Energy Correspondent
PARIS 31 May (IPS) The Islamic Republic of Iran suffered Friday another important setback after leaders of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan inked in Islamabad an agreement to construct a gas pipeline linking Turkmenistan gas fields to the Sea of Oman via Afghanistan and Pakistan, bypassing Iran.
Pakistan’s President General Parviz Mosharraf, Mr. Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan’s interim Prime Minister and Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov signed the agreement that will have the backing of the United States.
The 1.500 kilometres pipeline that would go from Daulatabad gas field in Turkmenistan to the Pakistani port of Gwadar on the Sea of Oman through Afghanistan would cost an estimated 2.5 billion dollars, experts predicted.
"There is no doubt that the project has important political implications, more than economic considerations, but there is no doubt that Iran is the main loser here, like elsewhere in the Caspian Sea or in Afghanistan and Central Asia", said Dr. Mohammad Reza Jalili, a professor of international politics at the Geneva-based Centre for Strategic Studies.
According to the agreement, international tender will be floated to invite companies to carry out the project and later the three countries will try to find out financiers for the giant project.
But Mr. Jalili observed that unless the Americans pushes for the project, few international oil companies or important investors would be interested in the project.
"Iran stands the be the more natural and cheaper route for the transport to the south of energy from the Caspian basin and Central Asia, but because of irrational antagonism to Washington by Iran clerical rulers, the American would not allow it, as they did for the Azerbaijan oil and Turkmenistan gas to Europe", he added.
Addressing a joint news conference along with Karzai and Niyazov, President General Mosharraf said the project will provide the shortest route for the export of hydro-carbon resources from Central Asian states to Far East, Japan and the West besides benefiting Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan, the official Iranian news agency IRNA reported from the meeting.
Dr. Fereydoon Khavand, a Professor of Economics at Paris universities described the tripartite project as "very important" for the signatories and "another big defeat for Iranian ruling clerics", and observed that Iran’s isolation here is directly linked to vital issue of relations with the United States, ties ruled out by Iran’s leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamehe’i.
Of the five countries that are bordering the Caspian Sea, Iran is the only one that insist on the equal sharing of the Sea’s energy resources, while the others, namely Azerbaijan, Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan have all defined their mutual borders on median line principle and are exploiting oil and gas.
He also said that Iran had lost all opportunities at a time that it should have been the main winner if only it would have improved its relations with America.
"Because of its enmity with the United States, Iran has turned main loser both at the level of exploitation of Caspian Sea’s energy and its transport to Europe and South East Asia, markets that are going to be amongst world most energy hungry in the near future", Mr. Khavand said, talking to Iran Press Service.
Mr. Khavand said if the Daulatabad-Gwadar pipeline is constructed, it would also become another liability for Iran, as it would undermine a project discussed by Iran, Pakistan and India to supply these two nations with Iranian gas from the huge South Pars fields in the Persian Gulf.
Highlighting Iranian anger at the Turkmen-Afghan-Pakistan project, Mr. Khavand quoted Mr. Aminzadeh, an Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Asian Affairs, as having said that the Islamic Republic "was very satisfied at the concretization of the project since it would bring neighbouring, devastated Afghanistan some 150 US Dollars per year as transit fees".
"The statement by Mr. Amizadeh looks more like a bad joke than a serious declaration from a diplomat. He sounds as if Iran was a very rich nation standing at the crossroad of all oil and gas transport routes", Mr. Khavand noted, adding that because of American sanctions, the Iranian oil industries are almost crumbling, needing between 30 to 40 billions US Dollars for urgent modernistation.
In his view, Iranian clerics reasons with the cold war time logics. They think Russia has the same might as had the defunct Soviet Union and therefore, they do their best to have Moscow at their side at a time that Russia, by becoming an associate of the NATO, has become a de facto ally of Washington", he said, joining Professor Jalili, saying that America was trying to replace Saudi Arabia with Russia as a major supplier of oil and gas to the world.
"Iran could have cashed at least a billion Dollars per year from transit royalties, only if it would agree to have normal relations with Washington. But now, with other routes seriously under consideration, like the Baku-Tbilsi-Ceyhan or the Trans-Caspian pipelines, those revenues are lost for ever", Mr. Jalili said.
General Mosharraf said with the gradual return of peace and normalcy into Afghanistan, the three countries are confident that this mega project would be realised in the near future.
"Construction of road and rail links from Central Asia to Afghanistan and Pakistan would also open immense opportunities and increase people-to-people contacts and boost economic activities. These links would enable central Asia to reach warm waters", he added. ENDS AFGHAN GAS PIPELINE 31502