IRAN-ARMENIA PIPELINE TO BE LAUNCHED IN FIRST QUARTER OR HALF OF 2007

Regnum, Russia
Jan 9 2007

Armenia’s Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan gave no clear comment on a
statement made earlier by the Iranian side that Armenia cannot receive
the Iranian gas via the Iran-Armenia pipeline. Answering a question
whether the statement made by spokesman for the construction project
Mohammed Reza reflects the reality, the Armenian foreign minister
said that "probably, the gas pipeline is physically ready, but it
is necessary to carry out tests." According to him, the works are
expected to be finalized in the first quarter or half of the current
year, and after that the Iranian gas will come to Armenia.

It is worth mentioning that Mohammed Reza announced that Iran was
ready to start gas delivery to Armenia at any time, but the Armenian
side was not ready to receive the gas. The Iranian side accomplished
all works necessary for starting gas delivery and installed necessary
equipment. The Armenian side asked for a meeting in late March to
discuss the project and issues of energy supply from Armenia to Iran.

The gas pipeline that connects Iran and Armenia has a diameter of
700 mm, its planned annual capacity is 1.2 billion cubic meters of gas.

Initially, amount of the gas sent to Armenia will be 1.1 billion
cubic meters, since 2019 it will reach 2.3 billion cubic meters. The
contract was signed for 20 years.

To reach the planned amount, the Armenian side is expected to lay
some more 197 km of the pipe. For each cubic meter of the Iranian
gas Armenia is supposed to return 3 kwh of electric energy.