IRAN, ARMENIA PLAN OIL PIPELINE

United Press International (UPI)
Dec 23 2008

YEREVAN, Armenia, Dec. 23 (UPI) — The completion of a 186-mile oil
pipeline from Iran to Armenia is expected to help diversify regional
energy resources, Armenian energy officials said.

Armenian Energy Minister Armen Movsisyan spoke to reporters about
the progress of the $220 million pipeline expected to be completed
by 2011, the Iranian Press TV said.

"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.

Russian, Armenian and Iranian officials attended the inauguration of
a final state of a natural gas pipeline from Iran Dec. 2. Armenia
will convert gas from that pipeline to electricity, which it will
transfer back to Iran.

These developments follow statements from NATO officials that warned
Armenia in September it needed to take steps toward transparency to
counter high energy costs.

Azerbaijan, meanwhile, refuted reports that Armenia would host the
Western-backed Nabucco pipeline, in part because of territorial
disputes over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

"In order to guarantee the country’s energy security we are moving
toward the diversification of energy supplies," Movsisyan said.