YEREVAN (Reuters)–Russia halted gas supplies to ally Armenia after bombs were found under a pipeline in the volatile south-Russian region of Ingushetia, but Armenia said on Monday it had enough reserves to supply consumers.
Police on Monday defused two bombs and searched the area for other explosive devices, after the Mozdok-Tbilisi pipeline was shut down late on Sunday, a police official in Ingushetia told Reuters. He said the area has now been cleared.
A spokeswoman for the Georgian Oil and Gas Corporation, which manages the transit of Russian gas to Armenia, said the shutdown had cut gas supplies to Armenia but that Georgia had not been affected.
“The gas supply to Georgia itself has not been affected as it receives gas from Azerbaijan,” spokeswoman Tamara Shoshiashvili was quoted as saying by Interfax.
Officials were working to restore the flow of gas in the pipeline which also serves customers in Russia’s North Ossetia and Ingushetia regions, an official in local gas firm Ingushneftegaz said.
Armenia gets around two billion cubic meters of gas annually from Russia, but customers were not affected, said Shushan Sardarian a spokeswoman for ArmRosGazprom, a subsidiary of Russian gas monopoly Gazprom. “We will use gas from our storage facilities until the restoration of supplies,” she said.
Supplies of Russian gas to its ex-Soviet neighbors have been disrupted at various times in recent years by security scares and by political disputes’. Russia cut supplies to parts of the European Union last winter during a pricing dispute with Ukraine. Russia’s Gazprom stopped buying gas from Turkmenistan in April after a pipeline explosion sparked a broader diplomatic row over gas.
The mainly Muslim region of Ingushetia, which borders Chechnya, has seen a surge in attacks in recent months blamed on Islamist rebels who have promised to attack economic targets. Georgia, which also receives gas from the pipeline, has not been affected by the cut, a spokeswoman for the Georgian Oil and Gas Corporation told Interfax news agency.
This was predictable enough, why Armenians are sleeping?
well the good news that now southern region of Armenia getting their gaz supply totaly from Iran, and soon we wilbe able to supply Armenia totaly from that pipe if neede.
My understanding is that Armenia has a strategic reserve of Natural Gas and Petroleum, unlike in the 90’s. I do not think sleeping is how I would put it; as the bomb was not in Armenian Territory.
JK
the solution is the the iranian gas