Iran-Armenia natural gas pipeline

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The Iran-Armenia natural gas pipeline is a 141 km long pipeline that transports natural gas between Armenia and Iran . The 101 km long Iranian section runs between Tabriz and the border river Arax , the 40 km long Armenian section connects here from the border town of Meghri in southern Armenia and extends to Kajaran . The line was opened on March 19, 2007 by Presidents Robert Kotscharjan and Mahmud Ahmadineschād .

history

The original plan stipulated that the pipeline should have a diameter of 1,420 millimeters; under pressure from Russia and against the will of Tehran, the diameter was reduced to 700 millimeters. This measure should ensure that Iran can only serve the Armenian market with this pipeline and cannot compete with the state-owned Russian company Gazprom . It cost around US $ 220 million to build .

Up until 2010, around 3 million cubic meters of natural gas flowed through the pipeline every day, which corresponds to 1.1 billion m³ per year. The gas is mainly used to generate electrical energy in the Hrasdan power plant. but is to be expanded to 2.3 billion m³ by 2019, for which the pipeline in Armenia must be extended by another 197 km on the Meghri - Kajaran - Sisian - Jermuk - Ararat route .

According to the agreement between the two countries, Armenia pays 3 kWh of electricity per m³ of natural gas  . The construction costs of the Armenian section, the cost of which has been estimated at US $ 35 million, are 80% financed by the Iranian Development Bank.

The construction of this pipeline was the first time that Russia and Gazprom accepted gas supplies from third parties in a successor state to the former Soviet Union. In 2006 Russian President Vladimir Putin and Armenian President Robert Kocharyan agreed that the Armenian section of the pipeline would be operated by the Gazprom subsidiary Armrosgazprom , so that control of the Armenian gas market remained practically in Moscow. It was planned to extend the pipeline by around 100 km to central Armenia by 2009, where it could be connected to the existing Armenian gas network, which, like around 80% of Armenia's energy supply infrastructure, is already operated by Gazprom.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Vladimir Socor: Iran-Armenia Gas Pipeline - Far more than meets the eye. The Jamestown Foundation, March 21, 2007, accessed May 1, 2018 .
  2. ↑ a b Ashot Gasasjan: Armenia secures natural gas from Iran. Deutsche Welle, March 19, 2007, accessed on May 1, 2018 .
  3. ^ A b Houman A. Sadri and Omar Vera-Muñiz: Iranian relations with the South Caucasus . In: Thomas Juneau and Sam Razavi (eds.): Iranian Foreign Policy since 2001 . Routledge, Abingdon 2013, pp. 146 .
  4. ↑ Claude Moniquet and William Racimora: The Armenia-Iran Relationship - Strategic implication for security in the South Caucasus region . European Strategic Intelligence & Security Center, Brussels 2013, p. 13 ( esisc.org [PDF]).
  5. ↑ Claude Moniquet and William Racimora: The Armenia-Iran Relationship - Strategic implication for security in the South Caucasus region . European Strategic Intelligence & Security Center, Brussels 2013, p. 12 ( esisc.org [PDF]).