Armenia imports the bulk of its natural gas from Russia because it is cheaper than gas supplied by neighboring Iran, Energy Infrastructures Minister Ashot Manukian insisted on Friday.
Russia gas, which currently costs Armenia $150 per thousand cubic meters, meets more than 80 percent of the country’s annual demand. The remaining gas imports come from Iran under a swap arrangement involving supplies of Armenian electricity to the Islamic Republic.
“If a lower price is offered to us, we will definitely buy [more Iranian gas,]” Manukian told a news conference.
Manukian said Prime Minister Karen Karapetian made this clear during an official visit to Tehran last week. In his words, Karapetian told Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh: “If you can give us gas at a lower price, we are ready to directly buy gas from you and partly abandon this [swap] deal.”
The gas-for-electricity exchange is due to be significantly expanded after the ongoing construction of a third power transmission line that will connect Armenia to Iran.
A senior executive of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) claimed in August that Armenia would like to more than double Iranian gas imports even before the high-voltage line goes on stream in 2019. He made clear that the Armenian side would have to pay for extra supplies in cash and that they would cost Yerevan more than Russian gas does.
Iranian media last week quoted the country’s Deputy Oil Minister Amir-Hossein Zamaninia as saying that Karapetian also discussed in Tehran the possibility of Armenian imports of gas from Turkmenistan via Iran. Yerevan is interested in Turkmen gas because it would presumably be cheaper for Armenian than Iranian gas.
Karapetian, who managed Armenia's Russian-owned gas distribution network from 2001-2010, declined to elaborate on his gas talks with Iranian leaders when he spoke to reporters in Gyumri on Wednesday. He said only that he returned from Iran with “very good and very promising projects.”
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