Agence France Presse — English
September 12, 2006 Tuesday 3:54 PM GMT

Iran eyes new Armenian pipeline

Iran wants to build a second natural gas pipeline to energy-strapped
neighbor Armenia, the Islamic republic’s parliament speaker
Gholam-Ali Hadad-Adel said on Monday.

Speaking during a two-day visit to Armenia, Hadad-Adel said "the two
sides are discussing the possibility of the construction of a second
Iran-Armenia pipeline."

Because of its dispute with Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh
enclave, Armenia has been unable to take advantage of Azerbaijan’s
energy reserves or participate in regional hydrocarbon transport
projects.

Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a six year war ending with an uneasy
cease-fire in 1994 over the majority ethnic-Armenian enclave in
Azerbaijan.

Hadad-Adel said a new Iranian gas pipeline would serve primarily to
supply Armenia with gas but added that "the possibility of
transporting gas to third countries through the territory of Armenia
is not excluded."

"An important part of our relations is cooperation in the area of
energy," Hadad-Adel said of ties with Yerevan.

Iran has already undertaken the 220-million-dollar construction of a
natural gas pipeline to the Caucasus nation, which has until now
depended on Russia for all of its gas needs.

Under a 20-year contract, Armenia is projected to receive some 36
billion cubic meters of gas through the conduit starting in January
of next year, breaking Russia’s stranglehold on its gas market.

Armenia will foot part of the bill for the initial pipeline with
deliveries of electricity which it produces at a Soviet-era nuclear
power plant.

Armenia and Iran also recently began construction of a hydroelectric
power plant on the Araxes river, which serves as the two nations’
border.

Armenia has depends on Russia and Iran for most of its trade because
of an economic blockade imposed by Azerbaijan and ethnically-linked
Turkey over the Karabakh dispute.