TALKS ON TRIPARTITE OIL REFINERY TO START SOON

Press TV, Iran
April 19 2007

Officials from Iran, Armenia, and Russia will meet soon to discuss
the construction of a big oil refinery on the Armenian-Iranian border.

Officials from the three governments will try to "ascertain the scale
of each party’s participation in the project," the Russian Regnum
news agency has quoted Armenia’s Deputy Energy Minister Areg Galstian
as saying.

Galstian has not given further details of the talks over the refinery
which would cater for the Iranian market.

A subsidiary of Russia’s state-run Gazprom has said that investment
estimated $1.7 billion is needed for the construction of the refinery
near the Armenian border town of Meghri.

Armenian President Robert Kocharian has reportedly discussed the
multimillion-dollar project with senior Russian officials during a
visit to Moscow in January.

According to Russian press, the plant would have an annual capacity
to refine 7 million tons of Iranian oil that would be pumped into
Armenia through a special pipeline to be built in northwestern Iran.

Petrol produced by it would then be shipped back to Iran by rail.

Construction of the 200-kilometer pipeline and the railway would
require hundreds of millions of dollars in additional funding.

Armenia and Iran have no rail links at present.
From: Baghdasarian