Iran ready to swap Turkmenistan’s gas to Armenia

Teheran, May 17 - Neftegaz.RU. Iranian Oil Minister Javad Oji has expressed the country’s readiness for swapping Turkmenistan’s natural gas to Armenia, Iranian Shana reported.

Oji made the remarks in a meeting with Armenian Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Gnel Sanosyan in Teheran on May 16.

Speaking in this meeting, the Iranian minister also expressed the National Iranian Gas Company's (NIGC) readiness for increasing gas exports to neighboring Armenia.
Oji told Shana after the meeting:

• Negotiations for gas swap from Turkmenistan to Armenia have started and we will soon achieve good results in this regard due to the high capacity of the country's gas network
• Today, during the negotiations, good agreements were reached on increasing gas exports, petrochemical products, and comprehensive development of mutual ties

Iran and Armenia have been cooperating for years in gas and electricity swap, and 2-way economic and political ties have grown in tandem with an increase in trade.

The 2 countries signed a gas-for-electricity barter deal in 2004, based on which, for a 20-year period, Iran would export gas to Armenia to be consumed by the country’s power plants, and in return, Iran imports electricity from Armenia.

Around 85% of Armenia’s gas supply is procured from Russia via pipelines passing through Georgia.
The remainder is imported from Iran, though Iranian gas is currently used only for the production of electricity at one power plant in a gas-for-electricity swap.

According to the 2021 Energy Strategy, the Armenian government intends to review all gas-sector legislation by 2024, and as part of this will begin to develop a new Gas Law in 2022.