India and Pakistan Wednesday discussed a planned $7.6 billion natural gas pipeline project and are working to resolve pending "economic issues" to meet the aim of starting supply by 2018, Pakistan 's oil minister said.

"There's a political will to get the pipeline started to support the energy requirements of both India and Pakistan . We're also discussing the economic issues related to the pipeline and how to resolve them," Asim Hussain told reporters on the sidelines of an oil conference.

"We also discussed importing petroleum products from India ," Mr. Hussain added.

Separately, an Indian oil ministry official who declined to be named said global pipeline companies aren't keen on investing in the pipeline project, as they want Turkmenistan to change local rules to allow them to buy stakes in the country's oil and gas fields.

The project involves building a 1,680-kilometer pipeline with the capacity to transfer 90 million cubic meters of gas a day.

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