ARMENIA TO START RECEIVING IRANIAN GAS WEDNESDAY – MINISTRY

NASDAQ
May 12 2009

YEREVAN, Armenia (AFP)–Armenia will start receiving natural gas from
neighboring Iran this week under a plan to diversify the landlocked
ex-Soviet republic’s energy supplies, the energy ministry said Tuesday.

Ministry spokeswoman Lusine Harutunian said Armenia will start
receiving the gas Wednesday and that it will be used to generate
electricity which will then be exported back to Iran.

There are no plans as yet to use the gas for Armenia’s domestic
consumption, she said.

"The volume of Iranian gas will depend on demand from Iran for electric
power, " she said.

Armenia and Iran signed the "gas for electricity" deal in 2002 and
in 2007 inaugurated a 150-kilometer pipeline for the gas deliveries.

Armenia has been cultivating close energy links with Iran because
of an economic blockade imposed by neighbors Azerbaijan and Turkey
in retaliation for Yerevan’s role in the conflict over the disputed
Nagorno Karabakh region.

The country has also sought to reduce its traditional dependence on
Russian energy, in particular after last year’s war in neighboring
Georgia disrupted Russian gas supplies to Armenia.