IWPR – Institute for War & Peace Reporting
March 16 2005

ARMENIA’S INERT GAS SERVICE

Shoddy installation and lack of government oversight means using gas
at home is a risky business.

By Lana Mshetsian and Tigran Mirzoyan in Yerevan

Energy-starved Armenia is turning to gas, but there are now concerns
that the uncontrolled conversion process is costing lives and causing
chaos.

This winter alone, around 30 people died because of poisoning, fires
and explosions caused by defects in the domestic gas system.

Gevork Danielian, Armenia`s deputy general prosecutor, told IWPR that
figures held by his office show that the number of gas-related
accidents has been growing over the past five years as the country
converts to the use of natural gas. The prosecutor’s office is now
investigating several such cases.

Karine Stepanian, a Yerevan housewife, complained that, “The
long-awaited gas installation has brought a load of problems: there’s
a constant smell of gas in the house, yet the gas service people
insist it’s all OK. If, God forbid, there is some kind of accident, I
bet no one will take responsibility.”

As complaints mounted about the government’s failure to regulate the
changeover, President Robert Kocharian announced he would take
action. Admitted recently that the rapid pace of the switch to gas use
had caught officials, he said, “I have been forced to intervene
personally and put things in order, using extreme measures.” It is not
yet clear what those measures will entail.

The president also said much of the blame should be apportioned to
careless members of the public, and suggested there was an urgent need
for education to tell people how to use gas safely.

Armenia has suffered a severe energy crisis since 1990-91 when the
Nagorny Karabakh conflict resulted in the closure of the border with
Azerbaijan, the traditional route source of were closed off. There was
little or no gas available until 1997 and many people cooked on
primitive stoves.

The controversial re-opening of the Metsamor nuclear power station in
1995 improved the electricity supply, and currently covers 40 per cent
of the country’s energy needs. (See CRS 271, January 26, 2005,
“Armenian Atomic Dilemma.”)

The ArmRosGazprom firm is now re-introducing gas as an energy source,
following the renovation of the decrepit gas network. Company Shushan
Sardarian, a press secretary of the company predicts that by 2007 the
company will have more than half a million customers, even more than
Armenia had in the Soviet period. ArmRosGazprom is 45 per cent owned
by the Armenian government, 45 per cent by the Russian gas giant
Gazprom and 10 per cent by another Russian company, Itera.

ArmRosGazprom is only laying pipelines as far as buildings as a whole,
and other companies are doing the connection to individual
apartments. Experts worry that the connection process is being carried
out in a hurry, without the proper care or coordination. Mkrtich
Abelian, an engineer, told IWPR, “There is no programme for tackling
the problems associated with gas installation in a systematic and
organised manner. There is no scheme that sets out how the gas should
go from the supplier to the consumer.”

Ordinary citizens have little confidence in the installation work.
“The dozens of organisations that install gas supplies within
buildings do the same job for varying prices,” said Ashot Mkrtchian, a
40-year-old teacher. “Each of them works out its own routing for the
pipes.”

Moreover, because the pipes are being laid above ground, many
buildings are now disfigured by webs of metal tubing. This, according
to architect Artsvin Grigorian, is “the most flagrant breach of
building regulations and practices”.

Officials from ArmRosGazprom say the problem is being corrected.
“Even if there have been breaches of construction practice in some
places, ArmRosGazprom will soon switch to using polyethylene pipes
which will be laid underground,” said Sardarian.

In the meantime, the rate of accidents almost doubled in 2004.
According to Nikolai Grigorian, press secretary at the government
department for emergency situations, 29 cases of gas poisoning were
recorded in just the first two months of 2005.

Grigorian urged consumers not to use unauthorised gas stoves to heat
their homes because of the grave risk they pose. “The market is full
of Turkish and Iranian-produced heaters that don’t even have smoke
flues”, he said.

In neighbouring Georgia, Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania died in January
apparently as a result of poisoning from a faulty Iranian gas stove.

Sardarian said consumers are responsible for many of the accidents
because they use cheap, home-fitted appliances without ventilation,
all in the name of saving money.

However, Danielian of the prosecutor’s office says there is a more
fundamental problem of governmental oversight which is now being
looked into.

“In this sector, as in any other, there should be state officials
responsible for monitoring the situation,” he said. “But it is not an
easy matter to work out exactly who is responsible for safety in the
sector, as the state energy watchdog was abolished in 2000 without a
replacement body being put in place…. A state body responsible for
coordinated supervision of the gas sector is essential.”

Twenty four criminal investigations into gas-related accidents are now
under way. No prosecutions have yet been started.

“No state official will shoulder responsibility for the dozens of
deaths,” said teacher Mkrtchian. “But that doesn’t mean they are not
to blame. The government is passing the buck. There is nothing
surprising about that – it happens all the time here. We ordinary
citizens are the ones who suffer.”

The World Bank is now taking an interest in the issue. Gevork
Sarkisian, director of the bank’s programme for heating provision in
Armenia, said that following talks with the government, his bank has
allocated one million US dollars to assist with safety measures in
Yerevan.

“The main aim of the programme is to test – ahead of implementation –
the most effective and least environmentally harmful methods of
heating multi-storey buildings,” said Sarkisian.

Lana Mshetsian and Tigran Mirzoian are freelance journalists in
Yerevan.