Epress.am News from Armenia
The Meghri-Kajaran section of the pipeline transporting natural gas from Iran is being is being purchased by Gazprom Armenia, Armenia’s national gas distribution network owned by Russian Gazprom, RA Deputy Energy Minister Ara Simonyan told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) on Wednesday, June 3.
The 41-kilometer section runs from the Iranian border to the southeastern Armenian town of Kajaran. The rest of the pipeline completed in 2008 is already owned by the Gazprom-Armenia operator.
The Armenian government and Gazprom, as stated by Simonyan, have already signed a “tentative agreement” on the sale of the section. He refused to disclose its financial terms or specify when a final deal could be signed.
A spokeswoman for Gazprom-Armenia, Shushan Sardaryan, confirmed this information. Sardaryan revealed that the tentative accord was finalized in 2007 with a $30 million “prepayment” made by the company at the time. She said that Gazprom-Armenia will likely pay another $9 million to complete the takeover.
Simonyan argued that such a takeover will make an economic sense because the Gazprom subsidiary already owns Armenia’s practically entire gas infrastructure. “We believe that private companies are much better than the state at managing such energy facilities,” he said.