ARMENIAN OIL REFINERY COULD GET GREEN LIGHT IN FEBRUARY
By M. Alkhazashvili

The Messenger
Dec 26 2007
Georgia

Armenian Energy Minister Armen Movsisyan announced that next February,
a team of Armenian, Russian and Iranian researches will present its
final viability report on the construction of an oil refinery in
southern Armenia to process Iranian oil.

The report should detail the profitability, or lack thereof, of an
Armenian oil refinery and a plan to send oil in a U-turn back to Iran.

The refinery, which would be built near the Iranian border, could
cost about USD 2 billion, according to the news agency Regnum.

Its capacity should be in the region of 6.5 million tons of crude
oil a year, producing 3.3 million tons of diesel and 2.8 million tons
of petrol.

The finished product could wind up in Armenia, Iran and possibly
other markets.

The Russian and Armenian presidents were said to have hammered out
a plan for the refinery in a Sochi meeting at the start of this year.