China is understood to have has increased its efforts in this direction after its earlier interest in joining both the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline and the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (TAP) gas pipeline diminished. While the first pipeline is bogged down due to global politics, Beijing is not too keen on the TAP line due to security considerations. A formal agreement or Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Pakistan and China could be signed during the visit of the Chinese President Hu Jintao next month (November). A technical delegation from China is already studying the possibilities of cost sharing over the two proposed trans-national high cost projects. GUSA Gas Co has already started planning for the Pak-Qatar gas pipeline. However, progress on the prospective pipeline from Qatar to Gwadar on the Balochistan coast has remained slow due to high cost of the subssea construction. As an alternative, the Chinese are said to be exploring the feasibility of routeing the proposed oil and gas pipelines from their origins in Qatar and Saudi Arabia to Oman overland. "From Oman to Gwadar, both the oil and gas pipes could be laid in parallel along the same subsea route in order to share the considerable costs of pipelay," a spokesman said.