Tuesday, October 19 2021 17:17

ArmInfo.The price of Russian gas for Armenia will be preserved if it is possible to ensure the necessary profitability of the 5th unit of the Hrazdan TPP. Deputy  Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan told reporters on October 19.

According to the Deputy Prime Minister, negotiations with Gazprom on  the price of gas for Armenia are underway and continue to this day.  "We have a consensus on the price of gas at the border, as well as   the current tariff in Armenia, since we have been conducting  difficult negotiations since 2019, and I think that we have discussed  this issue in detail, and in a sense we have agreed," he said. 

At the same time, as Grigoryan stressed, there is a problem with the  Gazprom group "in the global sense." "Under the 2013 contract, the  5th power unit was built - a thermal power plant that generates  electricity.  Unfortunately, the thermal power plant is not working  now.  At the same time, all of Gazprom's investments in Armenia ($  250 million was invested in the plant, Ed. note) under the same  agreement should have a yield of about 9% per annum. The construction  of the power plant is a serious and large investment, but today these  investments do not generate the profit that would ensure the  profitability stipulated by the 2013 agreement, "Grigoryan explained.  According to him, this issue is on the agenda, the discussion  continues. "If we manage to resolve this issue, there will be a very  stable situation with regard to gas prices," he said.

The Deputy Premier reminded that given the world gas price of about $  900, Armenia buys gas at the border for $ 165. "But in this regard,  no problems will arise in the foreseeable future, if we manage to  find solutions for the 5th power unit, find the optimal operating  mode that will correspond to the logic of the 2013 agreement," Mher  Grigoryan said.

To recall, head of Gazprom Alexey Miller and Acting Deputy Prime  Minister of Armenia Mher Grigoryan signed a supplementary agreement  to the contract for the supply of gas to Gazprom Armenia CJSC on  December 31, 2018. Gas price for Armenia on the border with Georgia  from the beginning 2019 was determined at $ 165 per thousand cubic  meters. From January 1, 2019, the period of validity of a 5-year  agreement between Yerevan and Moscow, which was based on a price of $  150, ended. On December 30, 2020 "Gazprom Export LLC and Gazprom  Armenia CJSC, extended the contract for the supply of gas to Armenia  for the first quarter of 2021.

On September 15, 2021, in parliament during the government hour,  Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan said that Gazprom insists that  within the framework of the agreement of 2013, the amount of profit  specified in the document does not satisfy them. "But this is a  working process, and I will refrain from providing additional  information, since the negotiation process continues and I hope  nothing unexpected will happen with regard to the gas price," Mher  Grigoryan said.

To note, the cost of electricity generated at the Hrazdan TPP is one  of the highest (about 32 AMD per 1 kWh of electricity).

"Gazprom" PJSC is the only gas supplier to Armenia for domestic  consumption. Russian "blue fuel" supplies to consumers in Armenia are  carried out by Gazprom Armenia (a subsidiary of Gazprom) in transit  through the territory of Georgia.