NEW DELHI, Feb 15 (UNI): Iran today rejected India's request to deliver natural gas at Indo-Pak border in Rajasthan, saying the delivery point should be the Iran-Pak border.
"We would like to deliver the gas at Iran-Pak border," National Iranian Gas Export Corporation (NIGEC) Chairman M H Rahbari told reporters after the first round of discussions with Indian companies' representatives.
He said four issues, including projected quantity, route and implementation of schedule, were being discussed by the Iranian delegation, which were here to attend the third Asian Gas Buyers' summit.
The Iranian representatives told UNI that they had reservations over India's stand on the delivery point.
"If the delivery point is India, the risk to Iran will be more," Rahbari said adding, "We would like India's participation in the project." Rahbari said the projected quantity of gas by 2015 will be 50 billion cubic meters per year and LNG demand from India will be in the range of 10 to 15 million tonnes.
Though the main task of the Iranian delegation was to discuss pipeline project with Indian companies, the representatives also discussed prospects of LNG, for which a detailed discussions is needed before entering into commercial deals.
Iran wants certain amendments in the January 7, 2005 agreement including quality of gas and delivery schedule.
The gas volumes are also being reworked with Pakistan now demanding 50 million cubic meters of gas per day, up from 15 mmcm and India demanding around 50 billion cubic meters of gas a year by 2015.
Rahbari said that a new task force will be set up to calculate the export volumes of gas and BHP Bilton, which is partnering NIGEC in the tri-nation gas export plan, will do a detailed feasibility study.
Gas exports through the pipeline are likely to start in 2010.
Sources said that Iran is worried about guaranteeing delivery at the Pakistan border after a series of terrorist attacks on Pakistan gas fields and pipeline infrastructure in Sui in Baluchistan province last month.
The attacks crippled the country's domestic gas supplies.
Supplies were cut off to Karachi, Pakistan's commercial capital.
"The terrorist attacks are not an issue.
It is not possible for terrorists to attack 20 points on the pipeline simultaneously.
Damages to a pipeline can be repaired fast," Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said on the sidelines of the meet.
BHP executives told UNI that a combination of armed patrolling, burying parts of the pipeline, satellite reconnaissance and sensors can prevent terrorists attacks.
10,000 Aceh children seek parents after tsunami BANDA ACEH, Indonesia, Feb 15 (Reuters): As many as 10,000 children in Indonesia's tsunami-devastated Aceh province may be seeking lost parents, the United Nations and other agencies said today.
That figure represents about 2.5 per cent of the 400,000 people displaced on the northern end of Sumatra island by the giant waves, triggered by an earthquake on December 26.
But the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said the number of youngsters without any surviving relatives or adult support was much lower than initially feared.
"It is really, really difficult actually.
We can only estimate," UNICEF child protection officer Frederic Sizaret said of the number of children who are unaccompanied or separated from parents.
A social affairs ministry statement on Tuesday put the figure at 10,000, while UNICEF said its estimate was up to 8,000.
More than seven weeks after the tsunami left more than 240,000 Acehnese dead or missing, UNICEF and Indonesian officials today were able to reunite one nine-year-old boy with his distressed parents.
"My heart has swollen crying everyday.
I told myself that my son would come home, and I prayed to Allah," said Hayatun Nafis, the boy's mother.
Officials said the boy, Iwan, recognised his flattened house during a trip around the provincial capital Banda Aceh on Sunday.
Sizaret said the UNICEF figure for children seeking parents was based on a surveyed sample of refugees and included unaccompanied youngsters with no adult supervision and those fostered with extended family or people from their community.
Of the 700 children registered as having lost their parents, 50-60 were completely alone and without any support from an adult they knew before the disaster.
More than 170 children had been entered into an inter-agency database so far and were in the process of finding lost parents.
"The good thing here is family is generally very extended, so you always have a cousin or a relative somewhere who can be traced ...
So, I'm confident most children will eventually find some relatives," said Sizaret.
The tsunami had an enormous impact on children, with UNICEF estimating that up to half of all the victims were youngsters, a statement from the agency said.
The social affairs ministry statement today said a priority was being put on supporting families who had taken in children and that adoption or institutional care, such as orphanages, would be considered only as a last resort.
"Principally, the government wants children to grow up with the provision of family-based care," said Haniff Asmara, head of the social bureau at the ministry.
Adults seeking lost children through official channels are shown five pictures of youngsters.
If they correctly identify the missing child additional questions are asked, such as the child's favourite food, the names of school friends and what they were last seen wearing.
The child is also asked questions and shown pictures of adults.
To prevent the trafficking of children, the government has put a moratorium on the adoption of children from Aceh.
Children under the age of 16 cannot leave the country without a parent.
