Iran, Armenia open gas pipeline

Story from BBC NEWS:
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Published: 2007/03/19 14:46:36 GMT

Iran and Armenia have inaugurated a natural gas pipeline intended to
reduce Yerevan’s reliance on gas from Russia.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Armenian counterpart,
Robert Kocharyan, opened the pipeline’s first section at a ceremony
near the border. Armenia has been building closer ties with Iran
following economic sanctions imposed by Azerbaijan and Turkey over the
disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. Until now, Russia’s Gazprom has
supplied most of Armenia’s gas.

Under the first stage of the project, Iran will deliver some 400m
cubic metres (14bn cubic feet) of gas a year through the pipeline,
most of which is in Iran.

But when the 141-km (88-mile) link is completed and extends to the
capital, Yerevan, the volume could rise to 2.5bn cubic metres (88bn
cubic feet) a year.

An agreement to build the $200m dollar project was signed in 1992 but
construction only began 12 years later.

Armenia will pay for the gas with the electricity it produces at a
Soviet-era nuclear power plant.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress