Prime-Tass English-language Business Newswire
December 14, 2004

Gazprom to bid in tender to build gas pipe from Iran to Armenia

YEREVAN, Dec 14 (Prime-Tass) — ArmRosgazprom, in which Russian
natural gas monopoly Gazprom and the Armenian government each hold
45% stakes, is to bid in a tender for a contract to build a gas
pipeline linking Iran with Armenia, Karen Karapetyan, an executive
director of ArmRosgazprom, told ITAR-TASS Tuesday.

The tender will be announced soon, he added.

Russian independent gas producer Itera holds a 10% stake in
ArmRosgazprom.

Karapetyan denied reports that the pipeline could be used for the
transit of Iranian natural gas to Europe, adding that this would
require a pipeline with a larger diameter and throughput capacity,
which would require considerable investment.

The 40-kilometer stretch of the pipeline that is to cross Armenia’s
territory will be built using a U.S. USD 30 million loan from Iran, a
press officer withthe Armenian government told ITAR-TASS. The
relevant agreement was signed during Iran’s President Mohammad
Khatami to Yerevan in September, thepress officersaid.

Construction of the pipeline is to start at both the Armenian and
Iranian ends simultaneously, with a 100-kilometer stretch of pipeline
to run across the territory of Iran to the border with Armenia. The
construction should be completed by January 2007. Armenia plans to
pay for Iran’s natural gas exports in kind, with electric power
supplies, the press officer said. End