RUSSIAN GAS SUPPLIES TO ARMENIA NOT RESUMED YET

/ARKA/
May 3, 2010
YEREVAN

Georgia has not yet resumed the transit of Russian natural gas through
its territory to Armenia, after a landslide reportedly damaged the
pipeline carrying it to Armenia.

A spokeswoman for Russian-Armenian ArmRosGazporm (ARG), Armenia’s
national gas operator, said the repair work goes on.

The head of Georgia’s National Oil and Gas Corporation, Zurab Jangjava,
was quoted last week as saying that repairs on the damaged section
of the pipeline would take two -three days.

Shushan Sardarian said domestic consumption was not affected by
disruption as ARG is now using gas from its Abovian underground storage
facility that enabled Armenia to avoid gas rationing during similar
accidents on Georgian and Russian sections of the pipelined reported
in the past. ARG has a monopoly over the distribution of natural
gas in Armenia which is mainly imported from Russia via Georgia. The
Armenian government owns 20% of ARG, and the remaining 80% is owned
by Russia’s Gazprom.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress