Tweet
DID IRAN AND ARMENIA KNOW ABOUT NIYAZOV'S DEATH TWO DAYS BEFORE OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT?
Regnum, Russia
Dec 27 2006
Armenia and Iran's foreign ministers announced on December 19 in
Tehran that a new pipeline connecting the countries will be put into
operation next spring instead of the end of this year as it had been
planned before. Today experts say that the real date of putting the
gas pipeline into force can be September 2007.
Before the visit of Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan to
Tehran, during which the explanation that seems to be invented in a
hurry was sounded that "the end of the year under Iranian calendar
falls on March," the sides had not once mentioned a possibility that
the previously announced terms could be changed. Since the moment of
signing an agreement between the two parties, which was on May 13,
2004, officials of the two countries used to say that the Iranian
gas would start coming to Armenia in the end of this year.
Thus, only eleven days before the three-year project was finished
the sides recognized that the time limits sounded by them were
unrealistic. What could be reason of such "late discernment"?
As experts believe, there can be several reasons that could affect
the time constraints and putting the gas pipeline into operation.
The first one could be untimely completion of construction works at
the pipeline.
However, as Vardan Oskanyan announced in Yerevan on the same December
19, "physically, the pipeline is ready, but tests have not been
carried out yet. The Iranian side intends to carry out those works
in a short time, and by the Iranian New Year the pipeline will be
launched." He also confirmed that "opening of the Iran-Armenia gas
pipeline was planned for December 26." His colleague, Energy Minister
Armen Movsisyan announced on December 22 that "final works on the
Iran-Armenia gas pipeline construction will be finalized by the end
of the year, after that test will be held and the Iranian gas will
arrive in Armenia." Thus, taking into consideration the fact that
from the Iranian side the pipeline comes to the Armenian border,
which was reported by Iranian media, one can state that the process
of laying the pipeline cannot be cited as reason why terms of putting
the pipeline into operation was changed. According to Iranian media,
the Iranian section of the pipeline was ready by November 30, 2006.
The second reason cited is question of appointing the management
company.
Movsisyan gave quite irrefragable answer to the question. According to
him, ArmRosgazprom will exploit the pipeline, and High Voltage Networks
Company will be the owner of the gas pipeline. "It is economically
effective that a pipeline is exploited by a specialized company,
and in Armenia it is ArmRosgazprom. It is not ruled out that later
the 40-km gas pipeline will be put on balance of ArmRosgazprom as
enlargement of the Armenian government's share in the company's
authorized capital stock," Armenia's energy minister said.
The third reason why the time limits for putting the Iran-Armenia
pipeline into operation could be frustrated might be a problem
of providing the gas for the pipeline, the problem of filling the
pipeline. As Armenian ministers pointed it out, the problem has a
technical nature. As it is known, mostly Turkmen gas was supposed to
be transferred via the pipeline. On December 21, two days after the
Armenian-Iranian news conference in Tehran, the world learned about
death of Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov. In this connection,
experts do not rule it out that the Iranian side was informed that
the Turkmenbashi was about to died or, which should not be excluded
either, that he had already died.
The gas pipeline joining Iran and Armenia is 700 mm in diameter,
its annual capacity is 1.2 billion cubic meters of gas Amount of
gas supplied to Armenia at the initial stage will total 1.1 billion
cubic meters, and since 2019 2.3 billion cubic meters. The contract
was signed for 20 years. To reach the announced amount, the Armenian
side is supposed to lay 197 km of pipe that will go via Kadzharan,
Sisian, Dzhermuk and Ararat. The treaty was envisages exchange of
gas for electric energy from Armenia.
Regnum, Russia
Dec 27 2006
Armenia and Iran's foreign ministers announced on December 19 in
Tehran that a new pipeline connecting the countries will be put into
operation next spring instead of the end of this year as it had been
planned before. Today experts say that the real date of putting the
gas pipeline into force can be September 2007.
Before the visit of Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan to
Tehran, during which the explanation that seems to be invented in a
hurry was sounded that "the end of the year under Iranian calendar
falls on March," the sides had not once mentioned a possibility that
the previously announced terms could be changed. Since the moment of
signing an agreement between the two parties, which was on May 13,
2004, officials of the two countries used to say that the Iranian
gas would start coming to Armenia in the end of this year.
Thus, only eleven days before the three-year project was finished
the sides recognized that the time limits sounded by them were
unrealistic. What could be reason of such "late discernment"?
As experts believe, there can be several reasons that could affect
the time constraints and putting the gas pipeline into operation.
The first one could be untimely completion of construction works at
the pipeline.
However, as Vardan Oskanyan announced in Yerevan on the same December
19, "physically, the pipeline is ready, but tests have not been
carried out yet. The Iranian side intends to carry out those works
in a short time, and by the Iranian New Year the pipeline will be
launched." He also confirmed that "opening of the Iran-Armenia gas
pipeline was planned for December 26." His colleague, Energy Minister
Armen Movsisyan announced on December 22 that "final works on the
Iran-Armenia gas pipeline construction will be finalized by the end
of the year, after that test will be held and the Iranian gas will
arrive in Armenia." Thus, taking into consideration the fact that
from the Iranian side the pipeline comes to the Armenian border,
which was reported by Iranian media, one can state that the process
of laying the pipeline cannot be cited as reason why terms of putting
the pipeline into operation was changed. According to Iranian media,
the Iranian section of the pipeline was ready by November 30, 2006.
The second reason cited is question of appointing the management
company.
Movsisyan gave quite irrefragable answer to the question. According to
him, ArmRosgazprom will exploit the pipeline, and High Voltage Networks
Company will be the owner of the gas pipeline. "It is economically
effective that a pipeline is exploited by a specialized company,
and in Armenia it is ArmRosgazprom. It is not ruled out that later
the 40-km gas pipeline will be put on balance of ArmRosgazprom as
enlargement of the Armenian government's share in the company's
authorized capital stock," Armenia's energy minister said.
The third reason why the time limits for putting the Iran-Armenia
pipeline into operation could be frustrated might be a problem
of providing the gas for the pipeline, the problem of filling the
pipeline. As Armenian ministers pointed it out, the problem has a
technical nature. As it is known, mostly Turkmen gas was supposed to
be transferred via the pipeline. On December 21, two days after the
Armenian-Iranian news conference in Tehran, the world learned about
death of Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov. In this connection,
experts do not rule it out that the Iranian side was informed that
the Turkmenbashi was about to died or, which should not be excluded
either, that he had already died.
The gas pipeline joining Iran and Armenia is 700 mm in diameter,
its annual capacity is 1.2 billion cubic meters of gas Amount of
gas supplied to Armenia at the initial stage will total 1.1 billion
cubic meters, and since 2019 2.3 billion cubic meters. The contract
was signed for 20 years. To reach the announced amount, the Armenian
side is supposed to lay 197 km of pipe that will go via Kadzharan,
Sisian, Dzhermuk and Ararat. The treaty was envisages exchange of
gas for electric energy from Armenia.