„According to this source, indicated that he had several reasons for this opinion, but the only one he elaborated was that „the Pakistanis don‘t have the money to pay for either the pipeline, or the gas,“ the cable said.

During a panel discussion at the Baku Oil and Gas Show from June 2-5, 2009, on the future prospects of Caspian gas, several commentators noted the difficulty of doing business in „unpredictable, overly bureaucratic“ Iran, and the alleged historical „unreliability“ of Iranian gas supply contracts previously reached with Turkey and Turkmenistan.

„For example, panelists recounted that, after long negotiations, Iran has four times failed to sign separate Liquid national Gas contracts at the last minute.

Two panelists claimed that Iran has repeatedly diverted gas supplies to meet domestic needs, thereby interrupting its contractual gas exports – and has not paid contractual penalties for these violations,“ it said.