GASPROM CORRECTS A MISTAKE OR HIDES INFORMATION

Lragir.am
07 April 06

The rumors on transferring the Meghri-Kajaran 40-km section of the
Iran-Armenia gas pipeline to Gasprom are controversial. In addition,
theseare controversial though they come from the same source.

On April 6 Gasprom placed a news release on the website of the company
on signing of an agreement by Armenia and Russia, which includes
arrangementson the fifth generating unit of the Thermal Power Plant of
Hrazdan and the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline, particularly, on the
transfer of both to Gasprom. The rumors about the Thermal Power Plant
have been officially confirmed by the government of Armenia, but there
is not an official word about the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline. Moreover,
the Armenian minister of energy Armen Movsisyan announced that the
construction of the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline is not over, it is not a
business to have shares that could be transferred to Russia.

Gasprom also refuted the information on the pipeline that Gasprom had
spread. More exactly, the information placed on the company’s website
on April 6 was edited, and the lines on the Iran-Armenia pipeline were
taken out. This form of refuting is interesting. In fact, Gasprom does
not refute the information on the pipeline, but clears it several
hours after placing it on the website. Thus, either Gasprom can write
anything about Armenia and clear it whenever it wants, or there is
nothing to apologize for. It turns out, however, that the information
was true but could not be published. Or it was convenient to publish
it for several hours only.

Considering the importance of the issue, these several hours were
enough to arouse public interest. It is another issue who wanted to
have this information known. If the government, particularly the
minister of energy were to refute the information, there was no point
in making it known to public. It means the leadership of Armenia would
not like a scandal, whereas Gasprom forced the government of Armenia
into a difficult situation. It means Armenia should have demanded
explanation from the Russian company if the information was false. Or
they should have asked Gasprom to take out the information, at least,
for some time. And on this level a request is not taken for granted.

On the other hand, considering that the Armenian society has a
negative attitude towards the transfer of the gas pipeline, and the
attitude towards the transfer of the fifth generating unit of the
Thermal Power Plant is also negative, the Armenian government may have
tried to do a little juggling.

The point is that by spreading information about the gas pipeline, the
government, in fact, enabled itself to refute the information about
the sale of the gas pipeline. It may improve the government’s
reputation in the country for a period. It may also ease the tension
caused by the sale of the fifth generating unit. In other words, the
society may forgive the sale of the generating unit if the gas
pipeline is kept. These are mere suggestions, but it is a suggestion
too that they managed to keep the gas pipeline. So far only the
information about the pipeline was kept.