Artashes Tumanian (left), the Armenian ambassador to Iran, attends a session in Yerevan of the Iranian-Armenian commission on economic cooperation on December 23, 2015. (Photo: Photolur)
YEREVAN (RFE/RL)—Armenia plans to increase imports of natural gas from neighboring Iran and will sign a relevant agreement with the Islamic Republic soon, a senior Armenian official said on Friday.
Armenia currently imports up to 500 million cubic meters of Iranian gas annually through a pipeline built in 2008. By comparison, Russian gas supplies to the South Caucasus country total around 2 billion cubic meters.
The Iranian gas has until now been formally purchased by a state-owned Armenian thermal-power plant. The plant pays for it with electricity delivered to Iran.
According to Artashes Tumanian, the Armenian ambassador to Iran, Yerevan offered recently to buy additional volumes of Iranian gas, some of which could be re-exported to Georgia. The Iranian side accepted the proposal, he said.
“Appropriate documents are being prepared and projects drawn up right now and I think that unless something extraordinary happens, the deal will be signed,â€
