YEREVAN (RFE/RL)—Armenia granted Russia’s Gazprom giant ownership of a pipeline supplying limited amounts of natural gas from Iran under pressure from Moscow, a senior Armenian pro-government lawmaker said on Tuesday.
The pipeline was controversially handed over to Armenia’s ARG gas distribution network mostly owned by Gazprom shortly after it was built in 2007. Government critics decried this development at the time, saying that it limited the country’s ability to diversify its energy resources. Some of them also accused Yerevan of bowing to Russian pressure.
The government denied such pressure. It also dismissed speculation that the Russians forced the Armenian side to significantly limit the capacity of the pipeline running from Iran.
“When the construction of the Iran pipeline was underway the Russian side had problems with that,” said Vartan Ayvazian, the chairman of an Armenian parliament committee on economic affairs. “They were not quite enthusiastic. All over the world there is pressure in commodity markets.”
Ayvazian, who is affiliated with the ruling Republican Party of Armenia said that the pipeline’s handover to ARG was the result of such pressure. “You can’t always see obvious facts,” he told journalists.
Ayvazian also implied that Gazprom’s control of the pipeline has limited Iran gas supplies to Armenian consumers.
The Iran pipeline was meant to reduce Armenia’s heavy dependence on Russia for energy. However, the volume of Iranian gas imports has remained quite modest ever since they began in 2009. According to official data, Armenia imported 500 million cubic meters of gas from Iran last year, compared with almost 2 billion cubic meters supplied by Gazprom.
The government has faced renewed questions about the small amounts of Iranian supplies after announcing last week a sharp rise in the price of the Russian gas for Armenia. Some of its critics have suggested that the Iranian gas may well be cheaper.
Energy Minister Armen Movsisian dismissed such criticism on Monday. He said that Iran sells natural gas to Turkey and other nations for $370 per thousand cubic meters, compared with Gazprom’s new price of $270 per thousand cubic meters set for Armenia.
Movsisian insisted that Armenia can afford buying modest volumes of Iranian gas only because it pays for them with electricity supplies.
If it quacks like a duck and walks like a duck..it must be a duck.Russian (Gasprom) ownership of the pipeline does not pass the smell test.Somebody got his palm greased in Armenia.
We are marching in the opposite direction of freedom and prosperity… towards the house of servitude which can only offer us impoverishment instead of abundance.
More info about this: http://www.armenianow.com/news/46343/gas_tariffs_customs_union_aram_sargsyan_european_union
this is old news, during the construction the Russians made sure that the pipe would not be too wide so that it could’t be used to export it..just local market..but still i guess Armenia has the choice between Russian control or Turkish Kilij
Armenia has to take steps for an alternative energy system than relying on the Russia’s Gazprom. Relying on the Russia’s Gazprom is a step that takes to oblivion/No way out.
Had it not been for a handful of men like Robert Kocharyan, Serj Sargsyan and Seyran Ohanyan, Armenia would have been turned into a cheep brothel servicing Western powers and their Turkish and Islamist allies in the region. Armenians have proven that Moscow cannot trust them. This “news” organization is one of the proofs, and so is Raffi Hovanissian, Vartan Oskanian, PFA, Civilitas, Sardarapat, etc. In fact, seeing the scary political landscape in Armenia today where most politicians will sell the country to the highest bidder, I am surprised at how well Russia has treated our untrustworthy people.
As a genuine Armenian nationalist, I beseech Moscow to do wherever is necessary to keep our self-destructive peasantry (in and out of Armenia) to stay totally dependent on Russia; do whatever is necessary to force Armenia into the Eurasian Union.
God bless Mother Russia, because unbeknownst to our fake “nationalists” she is actually ensuring Armenia’s survival.