On June 30, deputy head of “GazProm” Alexander Ryazanov made yet another announcement concerning Armenia-“GazProm” plans on purchasing the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline still going through construction. According to him, the purchase of that company will help increase the level of gas supply in Armenia.
“There are problems with having the gas enter Armenia through Georgia because Georgia is using too much gas, which is against the law,” said Ryazanov.
He also said that the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline will be ready by 2007. Based on the gas exchange rate, the total gas power will be 1.2 billion cubic meters a year.
Based on experience, the Armenian side still has to “comprehend” the announcements made by “GazProm” and then respond. The Armenian delegation headed by President Robert Kocharyan is currently in Tehran, Iran. It’s obvious that Minister of Energy of Armenia Armen Movsisyan is also part of the delegation, along with Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia and Iranian Ambassador to Armenia.
Movsisyan has met with Oil Minister of Iran Vazir Hamane and Minister of Energy Parviz Fattahi. The topic of discussion has most definitely been handing the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline over to the Russians-something which Iran is against. But Armenia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs isn’t going further in detail.
Based on the announcement made by the minister, some of the topics discussed during the meeting included the construction of the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline, the third, high-voltage electric communications line tying the two countries, as well as other energetic projects to be implemented through the combined efforts of both countries.
It’s clear that Iran won’t benefit by having the “huge” gas provider “GazProm” in the country’s energetic field. Citizens of Armenia already know about “GazProm” going worldwide-just three days ago, Foreign Minister of Italy announced that Italy was ready to “open its doors” for “GazProm”.
How is the Armenian government going to respond to “GazProm”? After all, Armenia owns the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline. Let’s not forget the Hrazdan water/power station’s fifth energy block. If the great powers of Europe can’t resist “GazProm”, then what can we say about a country whose energetic field already belongs to “GazProm”?
The Armenian government can’t do anything about this besides announcing that handing the gas pipeline to the Russians is based on Armenia’s economic interests and energetic security. That is, of course, if Iran doesn’t make any serious objections.
As for “ArmRusGazard”, the company’s public relations correspondent Shushan Sardaryan told “168 Hours” that “ArmRusGazard” can’t respond to the announcement by “GazProm” because the company is simply working alongside the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline construction. The Iranian “Sanir” company had selected the Iranian “Arvandan” contracting company by a contest to gather the construction equipment and solve land issues. The “Arvandan” and “ArmRusGazard” companies signed a 2.7 million dollar contract to work on the 22.5 kilometer section of the gas pipeline (from Kajarn to Meghri). “ArmRusGazard” says that work will be completed by August this year.
So, the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline construction is almost over, but we still don’t know who the owner is…better yet, the official owner.