The much awaited Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline project has moved a step ahead by the proposed tri-nation deal by Iran.

India's Petroleum Minister Murli Deora will meet his Pakistani counterpart to finalise remaining bilateral issues before the heads of the three nations meet in Tehran for signing the deal.

The meeting may take place by July end or August, Special Representative of Iranian Petroleum Minister H.Ghanimi Fard told reporters after meeting Deora in New Delhi.

Ghanimi was also non-committal on the particular phase of the giant South Pars field from where gas would be supplied to India and Pakistan.

"The entire South Pars field is for the project," he said.

Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said most of the major issues in the project had been resolved and only "small things remain".

"All the three nations are totally committed to the project," he said.

Petroleum Secretary M S Srinivasan said India and Pakistan had reached an agreement on the principal of calculating the tariff to be paid to Islamabad for wheeling gas through the 1,035-km pipeline segment in that country.

However, the transit fee payable to Pakistan for allowing its territory to be used for passage of the pipeline is yet to be resolved and would be discussed by petroleum ministers of the two countries in Islamabad next month, he said.

India and Pakistan will sign separate gas purchase agreements with Iran and will take deliveries of gas at Iran- Pakistan border. India will separately enter into an agreement with Pakistan for transporting gas through its territory.

Ghanimi said as per the understanding, the pipeline would be laid in the three nations separately. Iran would lay a 1,100-km pipeline from the Persian Gulf to the Iran-Pakistan border while Pakistan would lay a 1,035 km from its border with Iran to the Indian border.

India would then pipe the gas to consumption centres.

Pakistani Petroleum Secretary Ahmad Waqar said the pipeline segment in his country would cost between 2.5 to 2.75 billion dollars and would be laid in public-private partnership. - DDNEWS India