Mumbai: China has offered to participate in a pipeline to build a pipeline to transport gas out of Iran if India does not participate in the proposed Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) pipeline project, media reports in Pakistan said.

Pakistan proposes to import 2.2 billion cubic feet of gas daily from Iran through the pipeline and has said it is willing to buy an additional 1.05 billion cubic feet of gas if India does not join the project.

A Daily Times report quoting sources said, China has told Pakistan that it was interested in importing the additional gas if India does not join the project. The report also said Iran has no objection to exporting gas to China.

According to the Daily Times report, Pakistan and Iran have finalised a gas purchase agreement. Iran and Pakistan are expected to sign the gas purchase agreement on February 24, the sources said.

Iran, meanwhile, has cancelled today's talks on the IPI gas pipeline project due to reason unexplained.

Petroleum ministers from of three countries including Iran, Pakistan and India were to finalise talks on the gas pipeline project in Tehran today. The three were also expected to sign an agreement on the occasion.

Pakistan's minister for petroleum and natural resources Ehsanullah has also cancelled his visit to Tehran, according to a TV channel report.

The Indian government had earlier said it would not participate in the talks till the establishment of new elected government in Pakistan.

India and Pakistan have also failed to narrow their differences over the transit fee to be charged by Islamabad for the Iranian gas.

Reports from India have suggested that it will hold discussions with Pakistan on the pipeline once a new Government is formed in the country after the February 18 general election.

In case China joins the project, the pipeline project will have to pass through Gilgit in Pakistan's Northern Area, the sources said. Pakistan has already approved a project in the same area to widen the Karakoram Highway that links it to China.

Pakistan also plans to extend a railway track to connect China to the Gwadar port on the Balochistan coast. Chinese experts will visit Pakistan to finalise the route of the pipeline if Beijing joins the project, the sources said.