India has briefed Beijing on its plan - part of a new bilateral initiative aimed at increasing cooperation and coordination between Asia’s two largest energy users.
Indian Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas secretary for international co-operation Talmiz Ahmad recently briefed Chinese officials on the state of the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline project and the agreed “roadmap” ahead to increased petroleum dealings between the two Asian giants.
Although Beijing had yet to officially comment on the New Delhi proposal, Ahmad said the two countries planned to sign a memorandum of understanding later this year to monitor hydrocarbon sector relationships as the two nations acquired interests in oil and gas fields in Central Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Ahmad also said he briefed the Chinese on the present state of the proposed Myanmar-India-Bangladesh pipeline and other pipelines India was interested in, such as the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan and Qatar-India-Pakistan projects.
The US government has already expressed concerns about the Iran-to-India pipeline as it wants Iran politically and economically isolated. Having the pipeline link Iran to China, which is increasingly seen as America's greatest rival, is likely to increase Bush administration's concerns.
