Moscow Times, Russia
March 15 2005

Armenia to Build Gas Pipeline to Iran

Bloomberg
LONDON — Gazprom’s Armenian venture plans to start within a month
building a natural gas pipeline from Iran to import the fuel to
Armenia, Vremya Novostei reported, citing Karen Karapetyan, the head
of the Armenian unit.

Armrosgazprom, a venture between Armenia’s government and Gazprom,
doesn’t plan to extend the pipeline beyond Armenia into Azerbaijan,
the newspaper reported.

The link is scheduled to be finished by 2007 and will initially pump
1.1 billion cubic meters of gas per year to Armenia. Shipments will
rise to 2.3 bcm per year from 2019 under a 20-year contract.

The project will need between $200 million and $250 million of
investment, the paper said. Armenia will pay for part of the gas
supplies by exporting electricity to Iran, the paper said.

Iran holds the world’s second-largest natural gas reserves.