Armenia Seeks Russian Discount

Armenia is seeking a discount on its Russian gas price in the context of a weak oil price. Armenia’s energy minister Yervand Zakharian said January 21 that the talks had just started and the results are still not clear. Armenia now pays $165/'000 m³.

He did not say how much of a discount was being discussed but daily paper Haykakan Zhamanak cited sources “close to the government" that Armenia was seeking a fifth off. If these expectations come true, Armenia will import Russian gas at about$130/’000m³. The talks started in November 2015 and are of an unofficial nature, the sources said.

Zakharian also said that Armenia reduced gas import from Russia by 6.8% in 2015.

“Last year we imported 1.92bn m3 of gas from Russia, down 6.8% against 2014. The reduction was due to less demand,” Zakharian told journalists on January 21, 2016.

He also added that 7.8bn kWh of power were generated in 2015, up 0.6% against 2014. Russia and Iran are Armenia's gas suppliers. Iran barters about 1mn m°/d of gas for Armenian power.

Zakharian also said that Armenia was ready to transfer 500 mn m³/yr of Iranian gas to Georgia.

The managing director of the National Iranian Gas Export Company (Nigec), Alireza Kameli, said January 4 that Iran had held negotiations with Georgia on sending its gas to the Caucasian nation through Armenia.

Georgia gets 12% of its Russian gas as a fee for transiting gas to Armenia. However, Sputnik quoted Georgia’s energy minister Kakha Kaladze saying January 20 that his country’s negotiations with the Russian energy giant Gazprom may lead to a 20% rise in imports from Russia. He said the previous agreement with Gazprom expired on December 31.

Georgia’s gas demand is expected to reach 2.5bn m³ in 2015, a 27% rise on 2012, according to Kaladze.