ARMENIA, IRAN TO BUILD FUEL PIPELINE: MINISTER
Agence France Presse — English
December 22, 2008 Monday 4:32 PM GMT
Construction will begin next year on a pipeline to deliver petrol
and diesel fuel from Iran to Armenia, Armenian Energy Minister Armen
Movsisian said Monday.
The 300-kilometre (185-mile) pipeline will run from the Iranian city
of Tabriz to the Armenian city of Eraskh, where a terminal is to be
built, Movsisian said at a press conference.
"Armenia will receive petrol and diesel fuel from the oil refinery
located in the Iranian city of Tabriz through the pipeline,
construction of which starts next spring," he said.
Movsisian said the pipeline would take two years to complete and each
country would pay half the 200-240 million dollar (145-170 million
euro) cost.
He said the project was part of efforts by Armenia to diversify its
energy supplies, in particular after the war in neighbouring Georgia
in August disrupted Russian supplies to Armenia.
"In order to guarantee the country’s energy security we are moving
toward the diversification of energy supplies," he said.
Armenia and Iran last year inaugurated a 150-kilometre (95-mile)
pipeline intended to deliver 36 billion cubic metres (1.27 trillion
cubic feet) of gas from Iran to Armenia over 20 years. It has yet to
start operations.
Landlocked Armenia has sought closer links with Iran in recent years.
It suffers from an economic blockade imposed by neighbours Azerbaijan
and Turkey over the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region and its efforts to
gain recognition of Ottoman-era mass killings of Armenians as genocide.