Fact-check: Contrary to online claims, Pakistan not slapped with $18bn penalty due to Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline

Pakistan’s failure to build its portion of the 800-kilometre pipeline that would transport natural gas from Iran, has led to the country being slapped with a fine of $18 billion, claim users on Facebook.

The claim is incorrect.

Claim

“Sorry Iran, America is not agreeing,” wrote a user on March 3, “So now a fine of $18 billion has been imposed on Pakistan. The dream of building a gas pipeline will only remain a dream now.”

The post had been shared nearly 900 times on Facebook, and liked over 300 times, at the time of writing.

Identical posts were also shared here, here and here.

Fact

Officials from Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Energy (petroleum division) rubbish claims of an $18 billion penalty being slapped on Pakistan.

Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told Geo Fact Check via messages that the online posts were “not true”.

“Pakistan is moving ahead with the construction of the [Iran-Pakistan gas] pipeline,” she added.

Meanwhile, Rabbiya Khalid, the public relations officer at the Ministry of Energy, told Geo Fact Check over the phone, that the matter has already been clarified through a press release issued by the Ministry of Energy (petroleum division) on February 23.

The press statement, a copy of which is available with Geo Fact Check, stated that a summary was sent by the petroleum division regarding the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline, which was then approved by the cabinet committee on energy.

It added that the committee had given the go-ahead to start work on an 80-kilometre segment of the pipeline inside Pakistan, in the first phase, which will stretch from Pakistan’s border with Iran to Gwadar.

The statement also noted that the construction will be executed by the Inter-State Gas System (Pvt) Ltd and will be funded through the Gas Infrastructure Development Cess.

With additional reporting by Muhammad Binyameen Iqbal.

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