Monday, June 27 2005 17:31 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: India today (Jun 27, 2005) said the change in regime in Iran will have no impact on its plans to import natural gas and development of oil fields in the Persian Gulf nation.

"We do not see the change in regime having negative impact," Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar told reporters in New Delhi.

The victory of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in last week's presidential election had sparked off speculation that the hardliner may not be well disposed to exporting natural gas to countries like India and would rather use the gas to pump out more oil from the aging fields.

Aiyar said India will engage with the new regime and talks were progressing as scheduled.

India, which earlier this month signed a $22-billion deal with Iran to import 5 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for 25 years beginning 2009, is negotiating to increase the LNG quantities by 2.5 million tonnes and separately import gas through a 2600-km pipeline running through Pakistan.

A technical delegation from Iran led by National Iranian Gas Export Co managing director R Javadi last week held talks with New Delhi on the proposed $4.16 billion dollar pipeline.

The team will visit Pakistan on July 4 and return back to New Delhi on July 9-10 for further talks on the BHP Billiton's feasibility report on the pipeline.

A Pakistani team will visit India on July 11, Aiyar said.