ARMENIA LOOKS TO BEGIN GAS IMPORTS THIS WEEK AFTER EARLIER DELAYS
World Markets Research Centre
Global Insight
May 13, 2009
Armenia’s Energy Ministry said yesterday that the country will begin
receiving gas imports from Iran this week after numerous delays to
the start-up of a 141-km gas pipeline connecting the two. Ministry
spokeswoman Lusine Harutunian said that Armenia is to start receiving
gas today, which will then be used as fuel for a gas-fired power plant
to generate electricity that Armenia will export back to Iran. The
two countries agreed on a "gas-for-electricity" plan back in 2002,
and then built a pipeline connecting the two countries in order to
implement the deal, but the launch of gas supplies along the pipeline
has been delayed repeatedly for various reasons.
Significance:One of the reasons for the slow start to gas exports from
Iran has been that country’s need for gas to support its own demand,
but also because Armenia’s gas deal with Russia’s Gazprom reduced
the urgency of Armenia’s need for gas imports from Iran (seeArmenia:
24 September 2008:). However, last year’s war between Russia and
Georgia, through whose territory Armenia imports gas from Russia,
highlighted for Armenia the vulnerability of its gas imports from
Russia. Nevertheless, Russian gas supplies to Armenia are stable now,
and despite recent work to connect the Iran gas pipeline to Armenia’s
domestic gas distribution system, Harutunian said yesterday that
Armenia currently has no plans to use the gas from Iran for domestic
consumption (seeArmenia: 2 December 2008:). Instead, she noted that
the volume of gas that Armenia receives from Iran will depend on
Iran’s own need for electric power.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
