Tehran's Oil Minister said Wednesday that renewed negotiations were under way between Iran and Armenia for conveying Iranian natural gas towards Armenia, official IRNA agency said.
Head of the ministry's gas affairs Hamdollah Mohammad-Nejad was quoted as saying that a "prior agreement had been signed with Armenia in 1995".
"But Armenia had not managed to raise sufficient funds and the project had been delayed", he said.
"For this project, Armenia would have to contribute up to $42 million", he added. "Recently, Armenia resumed negotiations and a trilateral committee was created grouping Iran, Armenia and Greece.
A Greek company should evaluate the exact amount of gas which can be conveyed to Armenia", he added.
Armenia recently confirmed it had started building a Iranian-Armenian gas pipeline will enable the capital Erevan to receive 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas per year.
This pipeline is very important for Armenia, Armenian Infrastructure Minister said recently. "It will give us a security supply if there are problems with Russian supply", he said.
This 140 kilometre-long (87 miles) pipeline should cost 120 million dollars and last 18 months. An international consortium -- which could include Russia, Greece, France and China -- is also to be created by May 2001 for the building of the pipeline.
Iran has the world's second largest reserves of natural gas after Russia.—AFP.
©--Agence France Presse.
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
