The Iran–Armenia gas pipeline is a long pipeline from
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
to
Armenia
Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...
. The long Iranian section runs from
Tabriz
Tabriz ( fa, تبریز ; ) is a city in northwestern Iran, serving as the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. It is the List of largest cities of Iran, sixth-most-populous city in Iran. In the Quri Chay, Quru River valley in Iran's historic Aze ...
to the Iran–Armenia border. The Armenian section runs from the
Meghri region to
Kajaran
Kajaran ( hy, Քաջարան ) is a town and the centre of the Kajaran Municipality in Syunik Province in southern Armenia. It is located 356 km south of the capital Yerevan, 25 km west of the provincial centre Kapan, and 50 km north of the Arme ...
, and another of pipeline is planned to reach the center of the country, where it will link up with the existing distribution network.
History
The plans to build the pipeline was initially announced on 15 April 2002 by Armenian Energy Minister Armen Movsisian. It started operations on 20 December 2006, and was officially inaugurated by the Presidents
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ( fa, محمود احمدینژاد, Mahmūd Ahmadīnežād ), born Mahmoud Sabbaghian ( fa, محمود صباغیان, Mahmoud Sabbāghyān, 28 October 1956), of Iran and
Robert Kocharyan
Robert Sedraki Kocharyan ( hy, Ռոբերտ Սեդրակի Քոչարյան ; born 31 August 1954) is an Armenian politician. He served as the President of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic from 1994 to 1997 and Prime Minister of Nagorno-Karabakh from ...
of Armenia on 19 March 2007. There are discussions to build a second pipeline from Iran to Armenia.
Technical features
The pipeline diameter is and it cost about US$220 million. The initial capacity of pipeline is 1.1 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas per year, which will be increased up to 2.3 bcm by 2019. The contract was signed for 20 years. For each cubic meter of the Iranian gas, Armenia is supposed to return 3 kwh of electric energy to Iran.
[
]
Political controversy
Many suspect that the pipeline's diameter was reduced from under pressure from
Gazprom
PJSC Gazprom ( rus, Газпром, , ɡɐzˈprom) is a Russian majority state-owned multinational energy corporation headquartered in the Lakhta Center in Saint Petersburg. As of 2019, with sales over $120 billion, it was ranked as the larges ...
, which purchased a majority share in the Armenian section of the pipeline through its subsidiary,
Armrosgazprom
Gazprom Armenia ( hy, Գազպրոմ Արմենիա; russian: Газпром Армения), formerly known as ArmRosGazprom ( hy, ՀայՌուսգազարդ; russian: Армросгазпром), is a subsidiary of the Russian Gazprom company in ...
. If the pipeline had been built at the initial diameter, it would have allowed Iran to export to markets in Europe, therefore competing with Russia's own natural gas industry.
Analysts argue that the pipeline was in part intended to extend Iran's influence in Caucasus, however was subdued to Russian control before the construction ended.
On 11 November 2009, Armenian officials reported an explosion of some segment of the pipeline within the Armenian borders. Once the damage is repaired, Iran will resume flow of gas to Armenia.
[
]
See also
*
Iran–Armenia relations
References
External links
Iran–Armenia Natural Gas Pipeline by Fikret Ertan, The Journal of Turkish Weekly. 30 January 2006
by Alexander Gas & Oil Connections. 11 September 2006
by Alexander Gas & Oil Connections. 14 September 2006
Iran Oil Gas Directory oilgas.ir
{{DEFAULTSORT:Iran Armenia Gas Pipeline
Armenia–Iran relations
Energy infrastructure completed in 2006
Natural gas pipelines in Armenia
Natural gas pipelines in Iran