REALIZATION OF PETROL – RESTRICTED
Vasak Tarposhyan
Hayots Ashkhar Daily
27 Aug 2008
Armenia
But this will not last long
Although after the breakdown of the Georgian railway the state
undertook an initiative to import a certain quantity of fuel to Armenia
by automobile transport, there are a great number of filling stations
that have stopped the sale of petrol. However, it is not in all the
cases that this is conditioned by the lack of fuel. Taking advantage
of the existing stock-jobbing, some filling stations are engaged in
a so-called "shadow sale", increasing the prices on petroleum twice
or thrice.
"Flash" company, which operates in the fuel-importing market, has not
stopped the sale of petrol, however, it has restricted the realization
of the fuel. Petrol is provided only by special coupons and what’s
more, with restricted amounts – 20 liters; the restriction of the
diesel fuel is 40 liters.
"We release petroleum for our permanent clients only with special
coupons. I mean those people who acquired petroleum from us in the
past and continue doing the same now. As regards the rest of the
clients, they are, for the time being, deprived of that opportunity,"
MOUSHEGH ELCHYAN, Deputy Director of "Flash" company, reported to
"Hayots Ashkharh" yesterday.
Such restriction, he says, is conditioned by the difficulties in imp
orting fuel, and this has resulted in a certain scarcity of reserves.
"We have released a large number of coupons; therefore we are trying
to ensure that the people who made payments previously are provided
with petrol. That’s why we have imposed certain restrictions for the
amount of petrol not to exceed 20 liters. There have been stoppages
only for technical reasons. All the filling stations of ‘Flash’
company which are situated in Yerevan continue operating. Of course,
some filling stations of the marzes still lack petrol. There are
special coupons for diesel fuel as well," our interlocutor informed.
M. Elchyan believes that these restrictions will not last long. If no
new incidents occur, the situation will be normalized in a couple of
days. The 10 wagons of fuel (500 tons) belonging to "Flash" company
are already on the way; last night they reached Khashouri and are
expected to enter Armenia today.
The company has an additional amount of 800 tons of fuel stored
in Batumi, and in case of the successful operation of the railway,
it will be transported in a couple of days. Three thousand tons of
fuel have already been embarked on the ship and are expected to reach
Poti within the upcoming three days. In case everything is all right,
an additional period of 2-3 days will be required for transporting
them to Armenia.
In the meantime, M. Elchyan says, certain measures have been undertaken
towards importing fuel from Turkmenistan. The company has managed to
transport diesel fuel to Armenia.
"We have already imported 50 tons of Turkmenian fuel via the territory
of Iran. It was done more speedily because there was a certain transit
quantity in the territory of Iran, and we managed to ‘borrow’ it,
so to say, till ours reaches here. There was no petrol to be acquired
by such mechanism; otherwise we would have brought it too."
Anyway, the company is expected to import Turkmenian petrol to
Armenia in quite large quantities, and there is a relevant agreement
in that connection.
"We have already placed an order, and have an agreement for importing
7 thousand tons of petrol from Turkmenistan. It is just required by
the existing mechanism for the product to reach its destination only
20-25 days after signing the agreement. 10 days of the above-mentioned
time-limit have already passed. That’s to say, even if the worst
comes to the worst, the 7 thousand tons of fuel will reach here from
Turkmenistan in 15 days’ time. Furthermore, let me note that after
the first portion of the fuel is imported, the import of the next
portions will be facilitated. Hereafter, we can import fuel from
Turkmenistan more frequently should the Georgian railroad be closed
or fail to operate normally.