Gazprom Displeased with its Investments in Armenia

According to local daily Haykakan Jamanak (“Armenian Times”), Gazprom is extremely displeased with the result of their investments in Armenia. The reason is not only due to the decrease in the amount of consumption, the newspaper reports.

“Gazprom is particularly displeased with the prospects of activity in the Hrazdan TPP [Thermal Power Plant, or TPS for Thermal Power Station] 5th energy unit (Hrazdan-5). The issue is that Gazprom has invested hundreds of millions into the 5th energy unit and it has to be operational soon. But it’s currently not clear who is to consume the energy produced by the 5th unit. At full capacity, the 5th unit will produce as much electric energy as the nuclear power plant. Already today in Armenia there’s a surplus of the production of electric energy, and there isn’t even a chance yet of exporting substantial volumes. In this case, the 5th energy unit has to either not be exploited at all or work at less than its capacity. In both of these cases, Gazprom’s return on investment is not possible,” writes the daily.