Armenia to transit Iranian electricity to Europe
The Armenian ministry of energy and natural resources has published a statement reading that a delegation headed by minister Armen Movsisyan will pay a visit to Iran on November 4-7 to take part in the opening of the Iranian international exhibition of electricity and water.
The statement specifies some meetings but does not provide any information about topics to be discussed. One week has passed since November 7th but there is no information from the ministry yet. However, the Iranian Tansim news agency informs that minister Armen Movsisyan expressed willingness to wrap up current projects with Iran and launch new ones with a possibility to transit Iranian electricity to Europe through Armenia. “No final decision has been reached on transiting Iranian electricity through Armenia to Europe yet, and we need more negotiations,” said minister Movsisyan. The Iranian news agency informs that after a three-hour long discussion with the Armenian delegation the Iranian minister said that in consideration of the growing demand for electricity in Europe, Iran would be interested in exporting electricity to Europe through Armenia, Georgia or Azerbaijan.
It is not mentioned why Armenia should be transit for electricity because Armenia has electricity and can export itself. Years ago, when the football diplomacy with Turkey was launched, the parties specified the opportunity to export electricity to Turkey from Armenia as a bright prospect that would enable Armenia to use its potential for production of electricity in full. The Armenian minister, while in Iran, said the purpose of his visit was to discuss an opportunity for increasing the quota of gas import to Armenia.
He also said that in a meeting with the oil minister of Iran the main topic of their discussion was development of relations in energy production area. Tansim also writes about Iran-Armenia gas pipe initiated by the Armenian government in 2004 and operated since 2007. The Iranian gas imported to Armenia is used to produce electricity, which is later exported to Iran at a rate of 3 KW-h per cubic meter. According to the agreement, Iran is to export 36 billion cubic meter gas within 20 years to Armenia.
The agreement may be extended by five years and the volume of gas import may be increased to 47 billion cubic meters. Currently Armenia is using approximately 1.25 million cubic meters of Iranian gas per day to produce electricity. According to the initial agreement, Armenia was supposed to import 3 million cubic meter gas per day, and then increase the volume to 6,2 million cubic meter by 2019. However, the volume has not been increased to the target till now.
By Gayane Khachatryan
