A pipeline linking Iranian natural gas fields to India via Pakistan could be operational by 2009, a top Iranian energy executive said Monday. Earlier, India's Cabinet approved talks with Pakistan, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan to pipelines going through those countries en route to India. "We are very pleased with the Indian Cabinet's authorization for the gas pipeline proposal," Dow Jones Newswires quoted M. H. Rahbari, chairman of National Iranian Gas Export Co. as saying. Rahbari, attending a conference in New Delhi of gas buyers, said increasing energy needs in Asia _ one of the world's fastest growing regions _ would ensure the success of the project. India's Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar is scheduled to visit Teheran in June to secure a deal with Iran to deliver the fuel through a proposed pipeline that will cut through Pakistan.
