Russia’s Gazprom drops plans to bid for Iran gas field development

ITAR-TASS News Agency
November 12, 2004 Friday 2:49 AM Eastern Time

MOSCOW, November 12 — Russia’s company Gazprom has dropped plans to
take part in biddings for the construction of facilities at Iran’s
South Pars gas field.

A member of Gazprom’s law department, Sergei Kuznetsov, said “we
have held preliminary talks, have taken a look at the economy of the
project and have passed the decision not to send a binding bid for
the participation in the tender”.

He added that Gazrpom was interested in Armenia’s energy projects.

In particular Gazprom is considering a possibility of taking part
in the construction of a gas pipeline from Iran to Armenia and in
privatisation of Georgia’s stretches of gas pipelines linking Russia
and Armenia.

If terms of denationalisation in Georgia suit Gazprom, the company
will find it promising to take part in privatisation of a mains gas
pipeline and gas distribution companies, Kuznets said.

This is “important for Gazprom, as these gas pipelines link Russia
with Armenia”, PRIME-TASS quoted him as saying.