Prime-Tass English-language Business Newswire
March 17, 2005

Gazprom mulls buying fifth block of Armenia’s major power plant

MOSCOW, Mar 17 (Prime-Tass) — Russia’s natural gas monopoly Gazprom
is considering a deal to buy the fifth power generating unit of
Armenia’s Razdanskaya power plant, the company’s press service
reported Thursday.

The issue was discussed during the meeting between Gazprom’s deputy
chairman Alexander Ryazanov and Armenia’s President Robert Kocharyan.

In 2003, Razdanskaya power plant, which accounts for 20% of Armenia’s
domestic power output, was transferred to Russia to pay off Armenia’s
U.S. USD 31 million debt. Currently, the company is managed by
Russia’s Inter RAO UES.

Inter RAO UES is 60% owned by Russia’s power grid monopoly UES and
40% by Russia’s state nuclear power holding Rosenergoatom.

In 2004, Armenia announced a tender to sell the fifth block of the
plant, which is still under construction, in order to attract
investments into the country’s power sector.

Gazprom is also considering the use of Armenia’s Abovyanskoe gas
storage and is looking at the possibility of increase the facility’s
capacity to 240 million cubic meters from the current 85 million
cubic meters, the press service without elaborating. End