Yerevan, December 28 - Neftegaz.RU. The failure of Armenia’s acting PM Nikol Pashinyan to reach a new agreement on the price of Russian natural gas supplied to Armenia during yesterday’s talks in Russia will not have negative consequences for Armenia for the time being, Hrant Mikaelyan, an expert at the Yerevan-based Caucasus Institute, said armenian Arca.
According to Mikaelyan, both parties want to come to an accord, but at the same time they want to get more than to give up. He said Russia is more likely to seek a price rise and the media reports claiming that Russia wants to raise it to $215 per thousand m3 from the current $150 have good reasons.
Mikaelyan said also that Gazprom-Armenia is a state-owned company and, in fact, Armenia has to deal directly with Russian government, which resists lowering gas prices.
Regarding Russian investments in Armenia, Mikaelyan noted that the problem with Russian investments is deeper and since 2014 no Russian investments have been in the Armenian economy as Russian companies and the government have less and less money.
On December 20 an Armenian daily 168 Zham claimed that Deputy PM Tigran Avinyan received a letter from his Russian counterpart Dmitry Kozak, in which the latter informs that the price of Russian gas for Armenia will increase from the current $150 to $ 215 per thousand m3 beginning from January 1, 2019.
However, Tigran Avinyan's press secretary published an official statement on this issue in Faceboook, stating that «at the moment, there is no decision on the price of gas and there is no fixed price.»
Under a 2016 agreement, the Russian gas is delivered to Armenia by Gazprom at a $150 per one thousand m3, but Gazprom Armenia sells it to Armenian households at almost $300.
