Thursday, December 13 2018 14:59

ArmInfo. Armenia and Russia have not yet reached agreement on reducing the price of Russian gas supplied to the republic. The Minister of Energy Infrastructures and  Natural Resources of Armenia Garegin Baghramyan stated this on  December 13 to journalists.

According to him, negotiations on this issue are still ongoing, and  until there is a new agreement, the price of Russian natural gas will  remain unchanged. As Baghramyan pointed out, during the last meeting  of Armenian Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan with Russian  President Vladimir Putin on the margins of the meeting of the Supreme  Eurasian Economic Council in St. Petersburg, the issue of reducing  gas prices was considered. At the same time, Baghramyan abstained  from presenting the results of the meeting.

However, according to the. Minister, despite the fact that the  contract with Russia on the price of gas will expire on December 31,  2018, the tariff will not be revised from the New Year. "The existing  agreement will be prolonged until negotiations are under way and  there are no new agreements," he said, stressing that such  negotiations are a rather long process and we should not expect  results in a short time.

As explained by the head of the Ministry of Energy, according to the  procedure, as soon as Yerevan and Moscow come to an agreement, the  operator of the gas supply sector should apply to the authorized  body, the Commission for Regulation of Public Services, with the  appropriate application. The latter, within the maximum established  80 working days, and maybe earlier, will consider the application.  Then after 30 days the decision will take effect.

To note, on December 6, in an interview with journalists, the Acting  Minister of Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources of Armenia  Garegin Baghramyan stated that the tariff for Russian gas in the  domestic market of Armenia has the potential to reduce. Baghramyan  refrained from making any predictions, but assured that the Armenian  side would present the entire necessary package of documents with all  kinds of inquiries and justifications for the reduction of the tariff  for gas supplied by the Armenian side to the Russian counterparts  during the meeting of Armenian Acting Prime Minister Nikolay  Pashinyan on fields of the meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic  Council in St. Petersburg.

To recall, now Armenia receives gas from Russia at $ 150 per thousand  cubic meters at the border.  Domestically, the consumer is already  paying $ 290 dollars per thousand cubic meters of gas, large  subscribers who consume more than 10,000 cubic meters pay $ 242, and  greenhouses and processing plants pay $ 212. Meanwhile, following a  meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on September 8, Prime  Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced an agreement of the parties to  study together the pricing of Russian gas in Armenia. According to  him, he gets to the republic at a very low price, but there is a high  markup in Armenia. -