The Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project was first initiated by Iran in mid-1990s in order to transport the Iranian gas through Pakistan to India. However, the idea itself was first proposed in the late 1950s in a scientific article published by the Military College of Engineering, Pakistan. The idea came to the fore in 1989, when Pakistan faced a gas shortage. A preliminary agreement, which was signed between Tehran and Islamabad in 1995, was later joined by India in 1999.