Iran Inks Deal with Armenia to Extend, Increase Gas Exports

The agreement to expand and enhance the volume of gas-for-electricity barter deal was signed in a ceremony in Yerevan on August 10 and signatories from two sides were Majid Chegeni, the Iranian deputy oil minister and the head of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC), Aram Ghazaryan, the chief executive officer of the Yerevan Thermal Power Plant (Yerevan TPC). Gnel Sanosyan, the Armenian minister of Terrotorial Administration and Infrastructure and Iran's Ambassador to Yerevan Mehdi Sobhani were also present in the signing ceremony.

The initial agreement on the new contract was reached during the visit of Nikol Pashinyan, the Prime Minister of Armenia to Tehran last year, and after technical and expert talks, the final document of the contract was finalized on Thursday (August 10).

According to the deal, Iran's gas exports to Armenia are carried out within the framework of the energy clearing agreement between the two countries, and the discussions of the expert delegations of the two countries focused on the issue of the contract period, the volume of exports and the exchange rate of electricity and gas.

According to the deal, the volume of gas exported to Armenia increaseed and the exchange rate of gas with electricity has also been modified in favor of the NIGC and the contract deadline has been extended until 2030.

Iran's gas exports pipeline to Armenia has the capacity to transfer more than one billion cubic meters of natural gas annually, and only about a third of the pipeline's capacity has been used since its operationalization.

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