PIPELINE LEAK DISRUPTS ARMENIAN GAS
United Press International
Jan 10 2009
TBILISI, Georgia, Jan. 9 (UPI) — The transportation of Russian
natural gas to Armenia halted Friday following damage to a pipeline
in southern Georgia, officials said.
Georgian Energy Minister Alexander Khetaguri said a gas leak at a
major gas pipeline prompted officials to cut supplies, U.N.-funded
online news service Civil Georgia reported.
The "gas leak is significant, so this morning we fully suspended gas
transit to Armenia," the minister said.
Armenia receives natural gas through the North Caucasus-Transcaucasus
pipeline and the Mozdok-Tbilisi pipeline. It was not clear in several
media reports which pipeline was damaged, though the Mozdok-Tbilisi
route experienced similar issues in 2006.
Georgian officials said they were taking "urgent measures" to restore
the volume of gas to Armenia, but cautioned it may take at least five
days for repairs to conclude.
Russia and Georgia noted Armenia has two months’ worth of gas supplies
in storage and should not be impacted by the disruption.
The disruption was not linked to the debt row between Ukraine and
Russian energy monopoly Gazprom.