Armenian PM to leave for Ashgabat to discuss gas issues

ArmInfo. The Armenian  governmental delegation headed by Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan  will pay a working visit to Turkmenistan on March 27-28, the  Government's press office reports.    

The source says that the Armenian delegation includes Minister of  Economic Development and Investments Suren Karayan, Minister of  Transport, Communication and Information Technologies Vahan  Martirosyan, Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan, Head of the  General Department of Cicil Aviation Sergey Avetisyan and other  officials.     

Earlier Armenian Deputy Minister of Energy Infrastructures and  Natural Resources Hayk Harutyunyan told ArmInfo that Armenia is  holding active negotiations with Turkmenistan to find the best  possible ways of supplies of Turkmen gas to Armenia. It was  previously reported that Ashgabat offered Tehran to increase the  current gas swap amount for Armenia and Azerbaijan to 15 mln cu m per  day. But Harutyunyan noted that in the case of Armenia the matter  concerns smaller amounts. The Iran-Armenia gas pipeline capacity is 6  mln cu m per day and it is simply impossible to ensure big swap  amounts. 

On Jan 13, Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan said that the  Government of Armenia is working at various gas swap schemes.  He  added that the swap transactions were discussed with the Iranian and  Turkmen ambassadors on the first day of 2017. Today the only route of  natural gas supply to Armenia from Russia is the territory of  Georgia, which is constantly discussed in the context of development  of Moscow-Tbilisi relations. Thus, the swap supplies of Turkmen gas  to Armenia via Iran are the best way to ensure the energy safety of  the republic.  The swap transactions seem to be able to protect  Armenia against the constant discrepancies between Moscow and Tbilisi  and against the excessive appetites of the Gazprom top managers.