Tuesday, September 3 2019 16:58

ArmInfo.Armenia discusses swap deliveriesof Turkmen gas.  On September 3 in Yerevan during the parliamentary hearings on topical issues of Eurasian and regional  integration, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the  Republic of Armenia to the Islamic Republic of Iran Artashes Tumanyan  said.

According to him, Iran is ready to provide Armenia with large volumes  of gas, but the problems of the price of the proposed fuel keeps  Yerevan from Tehran's initiative. Iran, as noted by an Armenian  diplomat, has never offered Armenia better conditions than Russian  ones. A swap exchange of natural fuel is currently under discussion,  according to which Turkmenistan provides its gas to Iran at the  border, and the latter, in turn, transfers similar volumes of "blue  fuel" to Armenia at its border. "A similar supply chain is under  consideration," said the ambassador.

He also reminded that for many years Armenia has been implementing an  energy exchange program with Iran. As part of a barter deal, Iran  supplies gas to Armenia in exchange for electricity per 1 cubic meter  of gas per 3 kWh of electricity. According to the ambassador, the  electricity and gas exchange program should be expanded, and the  Iran-Armenia-Georgia power transmission program is being implemented  to achieve this goal. The diplomat emphasized that the project,  according to the decision of the Armenian- Iranian intergovernmental  commission, should be completed at the end of 2020.

It should be noted that Armenia is carrying out a barter deal with  Iran "gas for electricity" at the rate of 1 cubic meter of blue fuel  from Iran in exchange for 3 kWh of electricity from Armenia. Gas is  supplied through the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline, and electricity from  Armenia is sent through two power lines to Iran.

In order to strengthen the possibilities of regional commercial  commerce and the operation of energy systems in parallel, a decision  was made to build a third Iran-Armenia power transmission line with a  voltage of 400 kilovolts and Armenia-Georgia power transmission line  with a voltage of 400/500- kilovolt. However, while the construction  of power transmission line in the Iranian direction was only 20-25%  completed, the parties have not yet begun to build the  Armenia-Georgia power transmission line.

At the same time, the cost of the Iran-Armenia power transmission  line project is $ 107 million and is fully funded by the Iranian  side. As for the Armenia-Georgia power transmission line, including  two substations "Ddmashen" and "Ayrum", its cost exceeds $ 330  million. A significant part of these funds in the form of a loan was  agreed to be provided by KFW Bank, European Investment Bank and the  EU.