Armenian government approved Armoil`s investment program without positive Environment Impact Assessment

ArmInfo. Yerevan. On August 30, the Armenian government decided to grant tax and customs privileges to Armoil CJSC. On August 9, the government, having considered the matter, decided to postpone its adoption for a week in view of the existing environmental problems.

As the Minister of Economic Development and Investments Artsvik Minasyan stated, there are no obstacles for making a decision. The inspection body for nature protection and mineral resources of the Ministry of Nature Protection of Armenia adopted a decision that canceled its own, earlier decision, based on the absence of counterarguments on the arguments presented by the company. In this context, as the Minister indicated, the company is free to carry out its activities. "At this stage, there is no basis on which we could forbid its activities'', said Minasyan. Asked by the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, whether this means that all doubts about environmental threats are dispersed, Minasyan replied that the previous decision was due to the fact that the inspection body prohibited the construction of an oil refinery, but not a plant for processing raw materials. However, since the discussions revealed that it was a question of the processing of the already available petroleum product, rather than oil, the issue was automatically resolved.  In his turn, Minister of Nature Protection Erik Grigoryan said that the ''Expertise'' SNCO is currently studying this issue, and so far the company does not have a positive opinion on the environmental impact assessment (EIA). Nevertheless, the Government made the appropriate decision.

To recall, on August 9 Armenian Minister of Economic Development and Investments Artsvik Minasyan presented the investment program of Armoil company on construction of a crude oil processing plant in the town of Yeghvard in the Kotayk region, asking to prolong the previously adopted government's decision to grant a deferment on payment of import customs duties on technological equipment in the framework of the investment program.  The government considered the draft decision, and in view of the environmental tasks, decided to postpone its adoption for a week.  It was that time that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan noted, before the meeting of the government, he became aware that the nature protection and inspection body on mineral resources had decided to stop the construction of a small oil refinery in the town of Yeghvard, Kotayk region (on July 16, ed.  note).  "Do we have information related to the assessment of the impact on the environment?" the Prime Minister asked.  In response, the Minister of Nature Protection Erik Grigoryan stated that the inspection body carried out research and suspended construction of the plant.  At the same time, research was carried out on the construction of an oil refinery, and not a plant for processing raw materials, in connection with which there is a legal gap.  Nevertheless, the plant did not receive positive results of expertise and environmental impact assessment.  As a result, even despite the proposal of Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan to approve the project, and then try to solve the problem with the environmental department, Nikol Pashinyan proposed to postpone for a week the approval of the company's application for deferment of customs payments on imported goods.  "The environmental concept should be very clearly set in the core of our actions. This does not mean that there will be no refinery in Armenia, however all the actions should be exclusively within the framework of the law," he concluded.

To recall, earlier within the administrative proceedings launched on July 10 in the inspection body, it was found  out that Armoil CJSC had not carried out an environmental impact  assessment in accordance with the RA Law on Examination and  Assessment of Impact before the construction of an oil refinery in  the Nati district of Yeghvard, Kotayk region. On the basis of the abovementioned, on July 16  Head of the Nature Protection and  Inspection Body on mineral resources Artur Grigoryan, decided to stop the construction of the oil refinery until a  positive response based on the documents on the relevant expertise and environmental impact assessment are ensured.  Almost a year ago on October 18, 2017 the inspection body had already made a decision to stop the construction of the plant. It was that time the company was obliged to make an expertise and strategic evaluation of environmental impact.

However, on March 22 in a talk to ArmInfo's correspondent General Director of the company Alfred Abadi stated that already in two-three months the oil refinery plant in Yeghvard will become a reality.  ''The area and the capacity of the plant have been enlarged compared to the initial plan'', he said. Meanwhile, back in March 2016, in an interview with ArmInfo, the general director of Armoil (the official representative of the Lubreks brand in Armenia and the CIS countries and importing engine oils from the UAE-ed. note) Alfred Abadi noted that the main goal of the  company is the production of petroleum products with labeling "Made  in Armenia". The investment package was supposed to be initially implemented in three stages, the total volume of investments is $ 35 million.