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RUSSIAN PAPER VIEWS REASONS BEHIND IRAN-ARMENIA PIPELINE-REFINERY PROJECT
Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Moscow
25 Jul 07
Text of report (lead story) by Yuriy Simonyan: "Iran Is Going to
Armenia.
Tehran Reaches Agreement With Yerevan on Cooperation in Oil Processing
Industry" by Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta on 25 July
Iran and Armenia will jointly develop their oil processing
industries. An agreement to this effect was reached the other day at
an intergovernmental commission's session in Yerevan.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki stated that the parties
had reached agreement on laying a 200-kilometre oil pipeline from
Tabriz to the Armenian city of Meghri in which an oil refinery will
be built. The estimated total cost of the project is $1-2 billion
depending on the refinery's capacity. An Armenian-Iranian commission
and Gazprom, which substantially influences the Armenian energy sector,
will present a technical-economic feasibility study by the end of
September. A different question arises: Why did Iran decide to build
the refinery abroad despite the fact that Iranian refineries do not
meet the domestic demand and the authorities have made the decision
to ration gasoline as a result of which car owners can obtain 100
litres of fuel per month from now on.
The explanation provided by Tehran is refined Oriental way: It is
more secure to live beside a wealthy neighbour. Armenia is, indeed,
poor in this respect: It has to import all oil products. Therefore,
it is only logical that Armenian economists Artur Tamazyan and Eduard
Agadzhanov highly assess the project and opine that its implementation
will substantially change conditions for local consumers of oil
products, which will have a favourable effect on the domestic market
as a whole. "The idea of building a refinery has been hanging around
for a long time. There are indications that it will be implemented
now. There is only one downside at this point - the environmental
damage which accompanies the operation of any refinery. Having said
that, we do not know any details so far and therefore, it is impossible
to guess what advantages the refinery will bring and what negative
consequences it may entail," Tamazyan told Nezavisimaya Gazeta.
Overall, the refinery project looks exotic, because refineries are
usually built near an oil field, a seaport for further transportation
of refined products, and so on. Armenia does not have any of these if
it comes to construction, which gives rise to new questions the answers
to which will obviously be known only when the project is ready.
If the refinery has the capacity of several hundred thousand tonnes
of oil products it will be of local importance, for this is the amount
Armenia consumes domestically. In this case striving for peace through
altruism, which Tehran has articulated, will prove to be real, just
as the opinion that Iran is going to become an extremely influential
player in the South Caucasus by means of engaging its neighbours in
attractive economic projects.
At the same time, people in the expert community say that the
refinery can have the design capacity of 3 million tonnes of oil
products per year. If this is really so and if, along with building
the Tabriz-Meghri pipeline, the parties may build a reverse pipeline
to deliver gasoline back to Iran, we will be able to say that Tehran,
in preparation for US aggression: a) is trying to partially secure its
oil processing industry, although this will depend on the specific
Iranian-Armenian agreement the details of which are yet unknown; b)
is trying to provide itself with a certain amount of oil products
in the event of war, naturally, provided that the Iranian-Armenian
pipeline itself will be spared during a hypothetical strike, which
is rather unlikely; c) is placing a proportion of its state capital
abroad (in addition to the construction of the pipeline the commission
in Yerevan discussed a broad range of economic issues including the
introduction of free trade procedures, the development of transit,
and intensification of banking activities). The latter issue is of
particular importance taking into account the Armenian leadership's
ambitions to become a regional leader in this field. Therefore,
the oil project itself can also be regarded as, say, a confidential
guarantee of financial ties.
"Apparently, there are political reasons for the project. In the event
of war the construction of the refinery in Armenia looks logical,"
Agadzhanov told Nezavisimaya Gazeta. The Armenian Ministry of Energy
declined to answer Nezavisimaya Gazeta's questions on this topic,
citing the minister's busy schedule: "Only the minister can answer
these kinds of questions."
Recent criticism of the intensification of Armenian-Iranian
cooperation in the energy sector voiced by US Charge d'Affaires in
Armenia Anthony Godfrey add weight to the political theory of the
refinery construction. However, Washington is not the only player
unhappy with the project. For instance, the Azerbaijani newspaper
Ekho published a threat by Sirus Azad, one of the leaders of the
National Liberation Movement of South Azerbaijan, which belongs to
Iran, to destroy the Tabriz-Meghri pipeline, for it would "render
great support for the economic development of Armenia which occupies
Azerbaijani lands." "Until now the Iranian authorities strictly
controlled the domestic situation. Strategic pipelines in the whole
world are monitored particularly closely and this pipeline will not
be an exception when or if it is built," Stepan Grigoryan, head of the
Yerevan-based Regional Cooperation Centre, told Nezavisimaya Gazeta.
The date for the construction will probably become known during
the course of Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinezhad's visit to
Yerevan. As was stated in press releases published by the two states'
foreign ministries, a broad package of economic documents will be
signed. Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki did not specify
the date for Ahmadinezhad's visit which is expected to take place
"by the end of the year." Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisyan
and parliament speaker Tigran Torosyan will also pay visits to Tehran
this year.
Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Moscow
25 Jul 07
Text of report (lead story) by Yuriy Simonyan: "Iran Is Going to
Armenia.
Tehran Reaches Agreement With Yerevan on Cooperation in Oil Processing
Industry" by Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta on 25 July
Iran and Armenia will jointly develop their oil processing
industries. An agreement to this effect was reached the other day at
an intergovernmental commission's session in Yerevan.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki stated that the parties
had reached agreement on laying a 200-kilometre oil pipeline from
Tabriz to the Armenian city of Meghri in which an oil refinery will
be built. The estimated total cost of the project is $1-2 billion
depending on the refinery's capacity. An Armenian-Iranian commission
and Gazprom, which substantially influences the Armenian energy sector,
will present a technical-economic feasibility study by the end of
September. A different question arises: Why did Iran decide to build
the refinery abroad despite the fact that Iranian refineries do not
meet the domestic demand and the authorities have made the decision
to ration gasoline as a result of which car owners can obtain 100
litres of fuel per month from now on.
The explanation provided by Tehran is refined Oriental way: It is
more secure to live beside a wealthy neighbour. Armenia is, indeed,
poor in this respect: It has to import all oil products. Therefore,
it is only logical that Armenian economists Artur Tamazyan and Eduard
Agadzhanov highly assess the project and opine that its implementation
will substantially change conditions for local consumers of oil
products, which will have a favourable effect on the domestic market
as a whole. "The idea of building a refinery has been hanging around
for a long time. There are indications that it will be implemented
now. There is only one downside at this point - the environmental
damage which accompanies the operation of any refinery. Having said
that, we do not know any details so far and therefore, it is impossible
to guess what advantages the refinery will bring and what negative
consequences it may entail," Tamazyan told Nezavisimaya Gazeta.
Overall, the refinery project looks exotic, because refineries are
usually built near an oil field, a seaport for further transportation
of refined products, and so on. Armenia does not have any of these if
it comes to construction, which gives rise to new questions the answers
to which will obviously be known only when the project is ready.
If the refinery has the capacity of several hundred thousand tonnes
of oil products it will be of local importance, for this is the amount
Armenia consumes domestically. In this case striving for peace through
altruism, which Tehran has articulated, will prove to be real, just
as the opinion that Iran is going to become an extremely influential
player in the South Caucasus by means of engaging its neighbours in
attractive economic projects.
At the same time, people in the expert community say that the
refinery can have the design capacity of 3 million tonnes of oil
products per year. If this is really so and if, along with building
the Tabriz-Meghri pipeline, the parties may build a reverse pipeline
to deliver gasoline back to Iran, we will be able to say that Tehran,
in preparation for US aggression: a) is trying to partially secure its
oil processing industry, although this will depend on the specific
Iranian-Armenian agreement the details of which are yet unknown; b)
is trying to provide itself with a certain amount of oil products
in the event of war, naturally, provided that the Iranian-Armenian
pipeline itself will be spared during a hypothetical strike, which
is rather unlikely; c) is placing a proportion of its state capital
abroad (in addition to the construction of the pipeline the commission
in Yerevan discussed a broad range of economic issues including the
introduction of free trade procedures, the development of transit,
and intensification of banking activities). The latter issue is of
particular importance taking into account the Armenian leadership's
ambitions to become a regional leader in this field. Therefore,
the oil project itself can also be regarded as, say, a confidential
guarantee of financial ties.
"Apparently, there are political reasons for the project. In the event
of war the construction of the refinery in Armenia looks logical,"
Agadzhanov told Nezavisimaya Gazeta. The Armenian Ministry of Energy
declined to answer Nezavisimaya Gazeta's questions on this topic,
citing the minister's busy schedule: "Only the minister can answer
these kinds of questions."
Recent criticism of the intensification of Armenian-Iranian
cooperation in the energy sector voiced by US Charge d'Affaires in
Armenia Anthony Godfrey add weight to the political theory of the
refinery construction. However, Washington is not the only player
unhappy with the project. For instance, the Azerbaijani newspaper
Ekho published a threat by Sirus Azad, one of the leaders of the
National Liberation Movement of South Azerbaijan, which belongs to
Iran, to destroy the Tabriz-Meghri pipeline, for it would "render
great support for the economic development of Armenia which occupies
Azerbaijani lands." "Until now the Iranian authorities strictly
controlled the domestic situation. Strategic pipelines in the whole
world are monitored particularly closely and this pipeline will not
be an exception when or if it is built," Stepan Grigoryan, head of the
Yerevan-based Regional Cooperation Centre, told Nezavisimaya Gazeta.
The date for the construction will probably become known during
the course of Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinezhad's visit to
Yerevan. As was stated in press releases published by the two states'
foreign ministries, a broad package of economic documents will be
signed. Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki did not specify
the date for Ahmadinezhad's visit which is expected to take place
"by the end of the year." Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisyan
and parliament speaker Tigran Torosyan will also pay visits to Tehran
this year.