Epress.am News from Armenia
Gazprom Armenia is able to reduce the caloric value of natural gas using 3 "miracle devices" each valued at $350,000; moreover, by mixing nitrogen with methane, it can increase the volume of gas, Vahan Martirosyan, founder of an initiative called the National Liberation Movement, informed members of the press today. He said he found about these devices through a Gazprom employee.
Martirosyan said his initiative began to look into the matter in early December, when there was nationwide discontent. They received several complaints that "this year the gas is different; the gas heaters, furnaces, and heating systems aren't heating [homes] as they did in previous years."
"The device is an individual nitrogen station, 3 of which the company acquired, which gets pure nitrogen from the air through gas separation; meanwhile, Gazprom's spokesperson, Sardaryan, says that mixing nitrogen is pointless, since it's more expensive than methane. Let me cite a simpler example: if 30 liters of water are added to pure milk, naturally, the volume of milk will increase and they'll earn more money. Nitrogen is obtained in three stages, spending 0 dram on it," he said.
Martirosyan said he doesn't know where the devices are, and as for submitting the consumed gas to laboratory testing, there's no point, as 2 of the 3 labs belong to Gazprom.
"From Russia comes x amount of high-caloric gas. Before it reaches us, it's checked at five places, but the gas, being deprived of caloric value, increases, becoming a volume of y, and offered to the public. I suggested bringing independent experts from Iran or France to verify the truth of my remarks," he said. According to him, such a precedent occurred in Ukraine, where the issue made it to the courts, when Ukraine's National Academy of Sciences was able to prove the poor quality of natural gas.