India is pushing hard for a pipeline to transport gas from Myanmar to its shores via Bangladesh. Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar will visit Dhaka and Yangon in January to explore the possibility of laying this pipeline.“I will be going to Bangladesh on January 8-10 and from there visit Yangon. Obviously, on my agenda will be the Myanmar-India gas pipeline,” he told reporters on Monday.The pipeline is one of the several options being considered by India to bring gas reserves from Shwe field in Block A-1 in offshore Myanmar, as well as volumes that are expected to be discovered in its adjacent Block A-3. In both the blocks, OVL has a 20 per cent stake and Gail 10 per cent. South Korea’s Daewoo is the operator of the two blocks.Bangladesh will earn about $125 million annually as transit fee for the pipeline, that would run through Arakan (Rakhine) state in Myanmar to the Indian states of Mizoram and Tripura before crossing Bangladesh to Kolkata.According to sources, Dhaka had agreed in-principle for the export pipeline proposal and a tripartite deal could be sealed as early as January 2005. Dhaka, however, wants the pipeline to be laid along Bangladesh’s existing roads and highways and that the project be jointly managed by it and India. Bangladesh also wants New Delhi to agree to allow it to use the pipeline to export gas to India or import it from Myanmar.It is expected that India will build the $1 billion 290-km gas trunkline while Bangladesh’s state-owned Gas Transmission Company would be responsible for managing the stretch in its country.Petrol price may fall New Delhi: Petrol may become cheaper by Rs 0.40 per litre from December 1 following a fall in international oil prices. Diesel prices, if aligned with international prices, may be cut by Rs 0.05 to 0.10 per litre in step with global trends.But Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar was non-committal. “Let us wait and see,” Aiyar said. —ENS
