In the wake of last month's Iran nuclear deal with world powers, Indian industry on Monday called for expediting the proposed undersea pipeline project that would bring Iranian gas to India via the Arabian Sea, bypassing Pakistan.
The project, also known as the Middle East to India Deepwater Pipeline (MEIDP), was formulated a decade ago but could not take off due to western sanctions on Iran.
"There is a need now to expedite the undersea gas pipeline from Oman, which is strategically located as a gateway to the Gulf and the Middle East," the Confederation of Indian Industry's (CII) northern region chairman Shreekant Somany said at an Oman-India business meet organised here jointly by the CII and the Oman Chamber of Commerce.
The proposed gas pipeline project by South Asia Gas Enterprises (SAGE) could see over 31 million cubic metres of gas per day delivered to India.
The SAGE pipeline would originate at Chabahar on the southern coast of Iran and Ras Al-Jafan on the Oman coast, and after traversing deep in the Arabian Sea, would bring gas to Porbandar in south Gujarat.
The pipeline construction would take two years to complete, according to the project website.
With the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) pipeline still stuck and the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline yet to take off, the SAGE project holds promise of seeing gas delivered to India in about five years.
Oman is a key trading partner of India in the Gulf region with bilateral trade exceeding $5.7 billion in 2013-14.
The CII official called for reviving the bilateral mechanisms to boost business. "The India-Oman joint business council should be restarted," Somany said.
The previous 7th session of the joint business council was organised in September 2010 in Muscat.
"The matter of the joint business council is being deliberated and we hope that it may return in the next 2-3 months," Oman's ambassador to India, Sheikh Hamad bin Saif bin Abdul Aziz Al Rawahi, told the gathering.
The $969-million Oman India Fertilizer Co., India's largest joint venture abroad, started in August 2002 at Sur, Oman. Indian public enterprises Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited and KRIBHCO are equal partners in the venture with the state-run Oman Oil Company.
India's Jindal Steel and Power has acquired the Oman-based Shadeed Iron and Steel Co. for $464 million from Abu Dhabi's Al Gaith Holding and is at present operating a 1.5 million ton per annum gas-based iron plant at the Sohar industrial port area of Oman.
Engineering and construction conglomerate L&T has established four mega joint ventures - L&T Oman, L&T Electromac, L&T Modular Fabrication Yard and L&T Heavy
Engineering - with the Zubair Group.
Bharat Oman Refineries, a company promoted by state-run Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Oman Oil Company, has set up a 6 million tonnes per annum refinery with crude supply system at Bina in Sagar district of Madhya Pradesh.
The Omani ambassador pointed out that Indians form the largest expatriate group in the four million-strong population of Oman.
"There are around 500,000 Indians living in Oman and they form about one eighth of the population," Al Rawahi said.
The Indians in Oman repatriate to India around $3 billion in earnings annually.
