Yerevan Hints At Iran Pipeline Delay

The Armenian government on Thursday stopped short of explicitly denying reports that the ongoing work on a major natural gas pipeline from Iran will not be complete, as planned, by the end of this month.

Energy Minister Armen Movsisian said last month that the first 41-kilometer section of the pipeline passing through south-eastern Armenia will be inaugurated on December 20. His deputy Ara Simonian also spoke of a late December deadline for finishing the Iranian-funded construction.

But citing unnamed government sources, the Yerevan daily "Haykakan Zhamanak" reported on Thursday that the pipeline will not come on stream before next summer.

"The construction of the Iran-Armenia pipeline is proceeding according to plan, and everything will be done to complete it on time," Lusine Harutiunian, a spokeswoman for the Armenian Energy Ministry told RFE/RL.

"We have said that it will be complete before the end of the year. Now everything is being done to meet that deadline," she said.

But Harutiunian added that this will happen only "if the weather does not create surprises." "We can't tell you a concrete day at this point because it is now winter and working in such climate conditions is not easy," she said without elaborating.

The under-construction pipeline was supposed to diversify the landlocked country's energy resources that mainly come from Russia at present. But it is now widely expected to be incorporated into a Russian-controlled company that owns Armenia's gas distribution network. The takeover would be part of a controversial deal that enabled Armenia to temporarily avoid a steep rise in the price of Russian gas in return for hading over more energy assets to Gazprom Russia's state-run gas monopoly.

By Armenialiberty.org