There are no prerequisites for changing the price of Russian gas for Armenia from 2024. This was stated the day before, on November 8, in a conversation with Sputnik Armenia by Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure of the Republic Hakob Vardanyan.
In December 2021, the wholesale price for Russian gas for Armenia (at the border) was set at $165 per thousand cubic meters for 10 years. These changes were made to the agreement of December 2013 (the final tariffs for households and businesses consist of this price and markups for gas supplies within Armenia). In return, the republic pledged to annually pay Gazprom a certain amount ($31.79 million per year) for the maintenance of the Razdan-5 thermal power plant owned by the Russian gas corporation (the station will be guaranteed to receive this money even if it is not operated).
In addition, the Armenian side began to pay premiums for the increased caloric content, that is, the energy value of gas (if it is higher or lower than 7,900 kilocalories per cubic meter, the coefficients shift the price up or down). In fact, the Armenian side pays extra for gas, since its calorie content is almost always higher. Given that these and a number of other conditions are met, the gas price is automatically extended without the need for additional negotiations.
“Negotiations, of course, can take place, but so far the Russian side has not invited us to discuss any issues related to this agreement,” the deputy minister noted.
The Russian side, he clarified, did not offer to change the currency to pay for supplies of blue fuel. Currently, payments are made in rubles, but are tied to the dollar exchange rate (for every 1,000 cubic meters, $165 is paid in ruble equivalent; at a lower price, only Belarus and Kyrgyzstan purchase Russian gas in the post-Soviet space). Initially, Russian partners also did not propose to fix a similar amount in rubles instead of $165, Vardanyan added.
Armenia annually imports gas in the amount of more than 2.5 billion cubic meters, of which 80-85% is from Russia (for end consumers), the rest is from Iran (for the operation of thermal power plants, according to the barter scheme “gas in exchange for electricity”). In 2022, the Transcaucasian republic imported 2 billion 966 million cubic meters, of which 366 million were from Iran, 2 billion 600 million from Russia.
Discussions in Yerevan regarding possible changes in the price of gas supplied from Russia have become more frequent amid the current significant tension in bilateral relations after a number of steps by the Armenian side, which were considered unfriendly and even “anti-Russian” in Moscow. This is the ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, holding joint military exercises with the United States, meetings of representatives of the political leadership of the republic with representatives of the Kyiv regime.
Armenia is ready to buy gas from Azerbaijan after resolving political differences between the two countries. Deputy Minister Hakob Vardanyan stated this on October 26 on the sidelines of the international forum “Silk Road” in Tbilisi.
2023-11-09 04:41:00
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