GAZPROM WILL RAISE TARIFFS ON THE SUPPLY OF GAS TO ARMENIA STAGE BY STAGE
ITAR-TASS
May 20 2008
Russia
YEREVAN, May 20 (Itar-Tass) – Gazprom will raise tariffs on the
supply of gas to Armenia stage by stage, coordinating its steps with
the government of the republic. Such an arrangement was made here on
Monday during a meeting between President Serge Sarkisyan and Alexei
Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Board.
In the process, it was taken into consideration that Gazprom owns
72 percent of the shares of the monopoly supplier of Russian gas to
Armenia — the joint Russo-Armenian company ArmRosgazprom. Besides,
such an approach is intended to ensure predictability and accessibility
of deliveries to the economic entities and all gas users of the
republic, a government press service official has told Itar-Tass.
Gazprom is planning to achieve equal profitability of the supply of
gas both inside and outside Russia by 2011, Miller said.
During Monday’s meeting, the sides also touched upon negotiations
concerning the construction of an oil processing plant in Armenia,
and other investment projects that Gazprom implements in the republic’s
energy sector.
Sarkisyan said, "To Armenia, Gazprorm is a stable and promising
partner". He is confident that interaction will be fleshed out with
new substance. The interlocutors cited a substantial increase in
the scope of the use of gas by the population of Armenia in recent
years as an important achievement. The President said Armenia is one
of the world’s most widely gas-supplied countries, which is due to
large-scale installation of gas service.
The interlocutors stated that in recent years the ArmRosgazprom had
been working quite effectively, manifesting impressive results and
the fact that gas consumption has substantially gained in scope in
Armenia is indicative of steady development not only of the Company
but that of the entire economy of the republic, they emphasized.
At present Armenia gets Russian gas at a price of $110 per 1,000
cubic metres of gas. Effective from May 1, the republican government
discontinued subsidising the tariffs on natural gas for users. The
abrogation of those subsidies will entail an increase in tariffs on
gas by 42 percent for the population and still more for industrial
enterprises.