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YEREVAN HINTS AT IRAN PIPELINE DELAY
By Karine Kalantarian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Dec 14 2006
The Armenian government on Thursday stopped short of explicitly denying
reports that the ongoing work on a major natural gas pipeline from
Iran will not be complete, as planned, by the end of this month.
Energy Minister Armen Movsisian said last month that the first
41-kilometer section of the pipeline passing through south-eastern
Armenia will be inaugurated on December 20. His deputy Ara Simonian
also spoke of a late December deadline for finishing the Iranian-funded
construction.
But citing unnamed government sources, the Yerevan daily "Haykakan
Zhamanak" reported on Thursday that the pipeline will not come on
stream before next summer.
"The construction of the Iran-Armenia pipeline is proceeding according
to plan, and everything will be done to complete it on time,"
Lusine Harutiunian, a spokeswoman for the Armenian Energy Ministry
told RFE/RL.
"We have said that it will be complete before the end of the year.
Now everything is being done to meet that deadline," she said.
But Harutiunian added that this will happen only "if the weather does
not create surprises." "We can't tell you a concrete day at this point
because it is now winter and working in such climate conditions is
not easy," she said without elaborating.
The under-construction pipeline was supposed to diversify the
landlocked country's energy resources that mainly come from Russia
at present. But it is now widely expected to be incorporated into
a Russian-controlled company that owns Armenia's gas distribution
network. The takeover would be part of a controversial deal that
enabled Armenia to temporarily avoid a steep rise in the price of
Russian gas in return for hading over more energy assets to Gazprom
Russia's state-run gas monopoly.
By Karine Kalantarian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Dec 14 2006
The Armenian government on Thursday stopped short of explicitly denying
reports that the ongoing work on a major natural gas pipeline from
Iran will not be complete, as planned, by the end of this month.
Energy Minister Armen Movsisian said last month that the first
41-kilometer section of the pipeline passing through south-eastern
Armenia will be inaugurated on December 20. His deputy Ara Simonian
also spoke of a late December deadline for finishing the Iranian-funded
construction.
But citing unnamed government sources, the Yerevan daily "Haykakan
Zhamanak" reported on Thursday that the pipeline will not come on
stream before next summer.
"The construction of the Iran-Armenia pipeline is proceeding according
to plan, and everything will be done to complete it on time,"
Lusine Harutiunian, a spokeswoman for the Armenian Energy Ministry
told RFE/RL.
"We have said that it will be complete before the end of the year.
Now everything is being done to meet that deadline," she said.
But Harutiunian added that this will happen only "if the weather does
not create surprises." "We can't tell you a concrete day at this point
because it is now winter and working in such climate conditions is
not easy," she said without elaborating.
The under-construction pipeline was supposed to diversify the
landlocked country's energy resources that mainly come from Russia
at present. But it is now widely expected to be incorporated into
a Russian-controlled company that owns Armenia's gas distribution
network. The takeover would be part of a controversial deal that
enabled Armenia to temporarily avoid a steep rise in the price of
Russian gas in return for hading over more energy assets to Gazprom
Russia's state-run gas monopoly.