2013/3/12 日経
イラン、パキスタンにガス供給 パイプライン起工式
イラン産天然ガスをパキスタンに輸出するパイプラインの起工式が11日、イラン南東部チャバハールで開かれた。パイプラインが完成すれば、核開発を巡って欧米の制裁下にあるイランが外貨を獲得する手段となり得る。制裁が骨抜きになる可能性があるため米国は強く反発しており、パキスタンとの間の火種となる可能性がある。
起工式にはイランのアハマディネジャド、パキスタンのザルダリ両大統領が出席した。このパイプラインはイラン中南部アサルエとパキスタン南部ナワーブシャーを結ぶ。
ＡＰ通信などによると全長約1900キロメートルで、日量2150万立方メートルのイラン産ガスを輸出する。アハマディネジャド大統領は同日、「地域国家のいっそうの友好と連帯に対する強い決意を示すものだ」と強調した。
イラン側（1150キロ）はほぼ建設が終わっているが、資金不足のパキスタン側は計画が遅れていた。イランの最高指導者ハメネイ師は２月下旬にパキスタンのザルダリ大統領と会談し、資金支援の意向を表明。パキスタン側に５億ドルを融資することを約束した。
米国は一連の動きに強く反発している。核開発を断念させるための制裁でイランは国際的に孤立し、原油輸出の低迷で外貨の獲得手段が限られている。ここにパキスタンへのガス供給の道が開かれれば、制裁は有名無実となりかねない。
ヌランド米国務省報道官は７日の記者会見で「パキスタンがエネルギー需要を満たすうえで解決方法はほかにある」と発言。イランとの計画を断念し、トルクメニスタンやアフガニスタンからガスを調達するよう促していた。
パキスタンが米国の意向に背いてパイプライン建設に同意した狙いは大きく分けて２つある。一つ目が発電用の燃料調達だ。東部パンジャブ州では停電が多発し、工場の支障が出ている。
もう一つが米国に対するけん制。米国は「パキスタンがイスラム過激派を水面下で支援している」との疑いを持っており、同国への軍事・経済支援額を減らしている。あえてイランへの接近姿勢を強めることで、米国との対話のカードとするとの見方も根強い。だが起工式の強行で米国との関係が悪化し、米政府がパキスタンへの制裁に動くとの観測もある。
もっともパイプライン建設の実現性を疑問視する声もある。パキスタン側のパイプライン建設には15億ドルの事業費が必要。イランが約束した５億ドルの支援では不十分との見方もある。外貨不足に苦しむイランが融資を実行できるか不透明と見る向きもある。
March 11 2013 BBC News
Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline defies US
President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan and Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have
inaugurated a controversial gas pipeline linking the two neighbours.
The US has warned that the project could incur sanctions connected with Iran's
nuclear programme.
The long-delayed pipeline is seen in Pakistan as a way of alleviating the
country's chronic energy shortages.
The work on the Iranian side is almost complete. Construction in Pakistan will
begin on Monday.
The pipeline decision is bound to provide an additional irritant in relations
between Washington and Islamabad. The US has consistently warned that the
pipeline - if built - could potentially lead to US sanctions against Pakistan as
part of Washington's efforts to contain Iran's nuclear programme.
Washington insiders, though, suggest that this would be more likely to become an
issue once the gas flow was ready to be switched on. That could still be some
years away. Indeed, one of Washington's biggest criticisms of the pipeline is
that it does nothing to address Pakistan's immediate energy needs.
The US sees a good measure of domestic Pakistan politics in all of this -
elections are looming - and it may be for a future government in Islamabad to
face the moment of truth: either to risk US sanctions by switching the gas on or
to risk domestic criticism by being seen to cave in to US pressure.
Live television footage showed the two presidents shaking hands with dignitaries
as the ceremony got under way at the border.
"There are people who are against the progress of Iran, Pakistan and other
countries. They have found an excuse - called the nuclear issue - to exert
pressure on Iran and to prevent its progress," President Ahmadinejad said.
"I want to tell them the gas pipeline has nothing to do with nuclear energy; you
can't make an atomic bomb with natural gas."
President Zardari said the project was very important for Pakistan and was not
"directed against any other country".
A total of 780km (485 miles) of pipeline is due to
be built in the country over the next two years.
The 1,244-mile pipeline would each day
transport more than 750 million cubic feet of natural gas to Pakistan from
Iran's South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf.
Dubbed the "peace
pipeline", talks on the project began in 1994. The pipeline was initially
intended to carry gas on to India, but Delhi
withdrew from negotiations in 2009, just a year after it signed a nuclear deal
with the US.
The US says the project would enable Iran to sell more of its gas, undermining
efforts to step up pressure over Tehran's nuclear activities.
"If this deal is finalised for a proposed Iran-Pakistan pipeline, it would raise
serious concerns under our Iran Sanctions Act.
We've made that absolutely clear to our Pakistani counterparts," State
Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told reporters last week.
Washington - a major donor to Pakistan - has also argued that there are other
ways to ease Pakistan's energy crisis. One option favoured by the US is a plan
to import gas from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan, which has been under
discussion for years.
But power shortages have become a major and pressing issue in Pakistan, and the
government there insists it will not bow to pressure.
A nationwide power cut last month was blamed on a technical fault in a plant in
south-western Balochistan province, but it highlighted the energy challenges the
country faces.
Blackouts are common in Pakistan because of chronic power shortages, and many
areas are without electricity for several hours a day,
Last year, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said the pipeline was "in
Pakistan's national interest" and would be completed "irrespective of any
extraneous considerations".
BBC world affairs correspondent Mike Wooldridge notes that some analysts say
President Zardari feels it is an opportune time to be assertive with the US,
with elections on the horizon in Pakistan.
But our correspondent says Pakistan acknowledges that the pipeline route through
the troubled province of Balochistan presents significant security challenges.
Separatist rebels fighting for autonomy and an increased share of mineral
resources have frequently targeted pipelines in the gas-rich province.