ArmInfo.Armenia is in talks with Turkmenistan to purchase gas. Mikayel Melkumyan, Chair of the Standing Committee on Regional and Eurasian Integration of the National Assembly of the RA announced this at a press conference in Yerevan on December 18.
According to him, the visit of the Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures of Armenia Suren Papikyan to Iran recently took place, where he met with the Minister of Energy of this state, adding that the issue of gas purchase is under discussion. "At the moment, this scheme does not work, but it will certainly work. One of its goals is to create a common energy corridor from Turkmenistan through Iran, Armenia, Georgia to Russia," Melkumyan explained.
At the same time, he noted that at the moment, work is underway towards the early involvement of the scheme. "Iran is also very interested in the implementation of this project," the MP assured. He also noted that Armenia now receives three times less gas through the pipeline from Iran than its capacity allows, expressing the hope that the construction of a new Iran-Armenia transmission line will allow to fully load the gas pipeline.
Earlier, Armenian Ambassador to Iran Artashes Tumanyan reported that Armenia is discussing the possibility of swap supplies of Turkmen gas. 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 being considered," the ambassador said.
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 trade and the operation of energy systems in parallel, a decision was made to build a third Iran-Armenia power line with a voltage of 400 kilovolts and a 400/500-kilovolt Armenia-Georgia power line. However, while the construction of power lines in the Iranian direction was only 20-25% completed, the parties have not yet begun to build the Armenia-Georgia power lines. 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.