ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
November 30, 2004 Tuesday
Construction of Iran-Armenia gas pipeline begins
By Tigran Liloyan
YEREVAN
The construction of a gas pipeline from Iran to Armenia began in the
highland village of Agarak on Tuesday. Armenian Prime Minister
Andranik Margaryan attended the ceremony.
The 40-kilometer-long gas pipeline sector in Armenia is being built
with a $30 million loan of Iran, a source in the Armenian government
press service told Itar-Tass. The loan agreement was signed during an
official visit of Iranian President Mohammad Khatami to Yerevan in
September 2004.
The construction of the gas pipeline began simultaneously in Armenia
and Iran. One hundred kilometers of the pipeline will be laid in Iran
from Tabriz to the border of Armenia’s Megri district. Gas systems of
Armenia and Iran will unite when the gas pipeline is ready in January
2007.
The initial capacity of the gas pipeline will make 1.1 billion cubic
meters a year, and it will increase to 2.3 billion cubic meters by
2019, the source said. That would require laying 197 kilometers of a
gas pipeline from southeast Armenia to central Armenia between
Kadzharan, Sisian, Dzhermuk and Ararat. Negotiations with possible
investors are underway.
The gas pipeline from Iran will strengthen the energy security of
Armenia, the source said.
An Agarak-Shinuair power line was commissioned in southeast Armenia
on Tuesday. The Armenian Energy Ministry says the power line will
double the delivery of Armenian electricity to Iran to 400 megawatt.