Any plans by the Indian government to sign energy deals with Iran are "years away" and exist only in the hypothetical realm, a senior US State Department official said on Wednesday.

Nicholas Burns, the No 3 State Department official, did not specifically mention ongoing talks between India and Iran to build a $7 billion natural gas pipeline through Pakistan.

"The Indians have assured us that there is no plan on the table that is ready for decision by the Iranian (and) Indian governments, that any plans, any discussions, have been hypothetical and are years away," said Burns, speaking at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. "We would hope that those relationships would not be consummated."

India in recent months had indicated intentions to finalize a deal by the end of the year. But speaking in Riyadh earlier in November, India's oil minister said delays in Iran toward naming a new oil minister had also delayed plans to finalize the pipeline.

Iran is OPEC's second-largest crude oil producer and has the world's second-biggest reserves of natural gas.

The United States accuses Iran of seeking nuclear arms, funding anti-Israeli militia and stirring militant attacks against US forces in Iraq.

Analysts say the pipeline deal has also been jeopardized by India's decision to join the United States in September and vote to refer Iran's nuclear program to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.

India has to tread a tightrope in pipeline talks, trying to satisfy it ravenous appetite for hydrocarbons while not upsetting Washington.

India faces a natural gas deficit of 200 million cubic meters a day in 20 years.

Indians are just playing a game with the americans. They wan't access to US nuclear tech.

India is not going to build any pipleine wia Pakistan (they do not trust us). At best, they may ship the gas from Iran to India.

In my personal view, we should not encourage any energy source through Pakistan to India for few hundred million dollars. Its in our long time interest. Let India starve. They will be able to get some energy through East but most of the reserves are towards the West. And Indian economy can't hold on to it for very long without the energy.

We should go for oil and gas pipelines with Mid East, Iran and Central Asian States on our own to make Pakistan the future hub of energy. But I think the govt should also play diplomacy here and show Iranis the real Indian face.

umiqum:

If Pakistan does starve India, it would only happen for a short while. The Indians are smarter than that. They wouldnt be waiting for Pakistan until eternity to get gas from Iran (through land). They might agree to deal with Qatar, Bangladesh (they are doing that), Burma (in the process).

As for Pakistan its a win win situation. It can get gas from its western border from virtually any country. Iran, CAR states. We already are in the process of initiating the pipeline project with Qatar.

I think thats where to some degree the interests of Iran and Pakistan clash. Once MidEast, CAR states lay a pipeline towards Pakistan making it a hub point for gas, the importance of Straits of Hormuz would be reduced. In the process diminishing Iran's influence over the region. As LNG ships wouldnt have to worry about Iran when getting gas as they do now.