Updated on Friday, June 16, 2006, 00:00 IST

Shanghai, June 16: India and Iran have held discussions on New Delhi's plans to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Tehran.

The issue was discussed during parleys Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Murli Deora had with and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday on the sidelines of the fifth summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

"The Minister had very good discussions with the Iranian President on India's plan to buy LNG," a senior diplomatic source said.

India and Iran had signed the LNG deal in June 2005, by which New Delhi would buy the five million tonnes of the fuel from Tehran for a 25-year period from 2009.

The deal had run into rough patch after India voted against Iran at the IAEA in September 2005, when Tehran's suspected nuclear ambitions were reviewed.

Iran has the second largest gas and oil reserves across the world.

Deora, who led the Indian delegation to the SCO Summit, also had informal meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf, Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai and a host of other leaders from Central Asia, who are members of the SCO.

Bureau Report