Thursday, June 27 2019 14:03

ArmInfo. The price for “blue fuel” for the final consumer will be kept at the current level unless there is an  appeal from CJSC “Gazprom Armenia” to increase the gas tariff,. This was stated by Chairman of the Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) of Armenia Garegin Baghramyan in an interview with journalists on June 27 after a government meeting.

According to Baghramyan, negotiations between Yerevan and Moscow on the price of gas for domestic consumers continue. “There is no news yet,” he said. Nevertheless, as the head of the regulator assured, “Gazprom Armenia” continues to compensate for the difference in the tariff due to the increase in gas prices at the border from January 1 of this year at the expense of its domestic savings.

In this context, he urged not to worry, assuring that the state does not accumulate debts and in the future will not “have to” Gazprom and will not appear to somehow subsidize or cover debts.

As for the agreement reached during the last Armenian-Russian intergovernmental commission that, before July 1, 2019, Armenia and Russia should present for discussion a draft agreement on gas pricing mechanisms at the border, according to Baghramian, the document is still on development stage.

In this context, he urged not to worry, assuring that the state does not accumulate debts and in the future will not “owe” Gazprom and will not face the need to somehow subsidize or cover debts.

As for the agreement reached during the last Armenian-Russian intergovernmental commission that, before July 1, 2019, Armenia and Russia should present for discussion a draft agreement on gas pricing mechanisms at the border, according to Baghramyan, the document is still on development stage.

As the head of PSRC recalled, from January 1 of this year, when the tariff on Russian gas at the border amounted to $ 165 per thousand cubic meters, the 5-year agreement between Yerevan and Moscow, based on the price of $ 150, ended. Therefore, it was decided to develop a new agreement, thanks to which the parties will understand how gas prices will be formed for at least the next five years.

Speaking about the possible reduction of “Gazprom Armenia” employees, Garegin Baghramyan said that a by-law act had been adopted earlier that would allow the company to optimize the staff schedule in a certain way - to reduce to 1,000 employees over the next 5 years. At the same time, Baghramyan found it difficult to indicate how many people had already been reduced in the company.

To recall Gazprom’s head Alexei Miller and Acting Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia Mher Grigoryan signed a supplementary agreement to the gas supply contract of “Gazprom Armenia” on December 31, 2018. Since the beginning of 2019 the price of gas for Armenia on the border with Georgia has been set at $ 165 per thousand cubic meters. As Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said earlier, the Government of Armenia is not going to subsidize the gas price, and no assets will be transferred in return. Nevertheless, as he assured, in 2019 the price for gas for consumers of Armenia will not change, since they agreed with Gazprom on preserving the internal gas tariff.

Meanwhile, on June 7, at a press conference after the plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, answering the question of ArmInfo correspondent, stated that there is no agreement with Moscow on the price of gas for the consumer. Nikol Pashinyan hopes that an agreement will be reached with Russia, and the price will be such that it will not hamper the further economic development of Armenia. In this regard, an agreement was reached with the President of Russia to intensify negotiations in order to achieve a unified solution.

“In my speech, I said that at present there is a good economic dynamics in Armenia, and presented statistics. This is important not only in the context of bilateral relations, but also in the context of the Eurasian Economic Union, since the EAEU is a common market and a common economic space. Factors affecting the cost of goods and products should be balanced, ”Pashinyan said.

For example, according to the Prime Minister, if the gas tariff in one place in the EEU space is low, it will upset the balance and hit the content of the Union. “So, here we need a very balanced and wise decision. I hope we can come to such a decision,” the head of the Armenian government concluded.