An ambitious natural gas pipeline project that sought to allow Iran exports to India and Pakistan is effectively dead, according to Pakistani officials who say the Obama Administration forbade them from building it.
India had already bailed out on the plan, but with Pakistan struggling with constant rolling blackouts because of energy shortages, they had long insisted they wanted the plan to finish despite US objections.
The last minute backing out isn’t setting well with Iran, who has virtually finished the part of the pipeline in their country and is now faced with a multi-billion dollar pipeline to nowhere.
Iran’s oil ministry says that Pakistan has signed a contract which obliges them to finish the construction, and urged them to pick up the pace to make up for having fallen behind schedule.
