Armenia is seeking to increase its natural gas imports from Iran but is not looking for an alternative to Russian gas, Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Davit Khudatyan told reporters in Yerevan.
Asked why Armenia is now exploring options to expand imports of Iranian gas and whether this means the government is seeking an alternative to Russian supplies, the minister replied: “No.”
Khudatyan added that Armenia supports Tehran’s proposal to increase gas exports from Iran.
Responding to a question about whether the move reflected concerns over gas supplies, the minister said there was no cause for concern.
“There are no concerns; this is a routine working process. Within this framework, we have been implementing this process according to schedule, 12 months a year, for many years. In certain years, the volumes changed, and now we have established that there is additional potential within the framework of the ‘Gas for Electricity’ project. We agreed that the working groups [from Armenia and Iran] would discuss these issues,” the minister said.
Earlier, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Armenia’s Foreign Ministry had received notification from Russia about the possibility of terminating the bilateral gas supply agreement if Yerevan joins the European Union.
Under the agreement signed between Armenia and Russia in 2013, Russia supplies gas to Armenia without export duties and on preferential terms for domestic consumption.
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Armenia supports Tehran's proposal to increase natural gas exports from Iran, Armenian Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Davit Khudatyan said following his visit to Iran last week.
Elaborating on the proposal, Khudatyan said both countries have the infrastructure needed to significantly expand their existing gas-for-electricity swap, Caliber.Az reports via Armenian media.
“Both sides acknowledged that the Republic of Armenia effectively needs to receive larger volumes of gas, while the Islamic Republic of Iran needs to receive larger volumes of electricity.
The capacity of our existing gas pipeline exceeds the volume of gas currently being transported through it. Both the capabilities of our existing gas pipeline and the construction of the 400 kV power transmission line will allow us to increase the volume of the deal by more than twofold, but at a minimum, doubling it is entirely possible,” the minister said.
Khudatyan added that Armenia is capable of exporting at least twice as much electricity to Iran and, in return, receiving twice as much natural gas, noting that the pipeline's capacity is sufficient to handle volumes exceeding that level.
By Jeyhun Aghazada
