Russian Gas Supplied to Armenia More Expensive than Iranian Gas: Newspaper

According to official data published by the RA State Revenue Committee, in the first quarter of 2014, Armenia imported from Iran 92 million 418 thousand cubic meters of gas, which is 31% less than the same period last year. 

During the same period, the volume of gas imported from Russia increased by 7%, reports Haykakan Zhamanak. 

"These statistics are notable for the fact that the gas received from Iran is much cheaper than [the gas received from] Russia. It turns out that the Armenian authorities preferred expensive Russian gas over cheaper Iranian gas, which is simply nonsense in economic terms and has a political subtext: Russian Gazprom, which owns that gas supply system in the Republic of Armenia, decides from whom and how much gas Armenia must import. 

"By the way, in December of last year, the National Assembly ratified the agreement to surrender the Armenian government's last 20% stake in ArmRosGazprom to Gazprom, according to which since January 1 of this year, Russian gas was to be priced at $189. But, according to the figures published by the State Revenue Committee, Russian gas is supplied to Armenia at $221. And Iranian gas costs $188," reports the paper.