Iranian gas refinery[/caption]Armenia Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Armen Movsisyan says Yerevan will be discussing the purchase of natural gas from from Iran during an upcoming joint economic commission in early 2014.
Movsisyan told a Tuesday parliament hearing that he had met with Iranian Ambassador to Yerevan Mohammad Raeisi over the purchase of natural gas from the Islamic Republic, Armenias Arka news agency reported.
The two sides agreed that Tehran and Yerevan hold talks on the price of Irans natural gas during the bilateral commission on economic cooperation, which is expected to convene in January or February 2014, added Movsisyan.
According to the Armenian minister, Tehran is ready to sell natural gas to Yerevan at USD 400 per 1,000 cubic meters, adding that the two neighboring countries have failed to reach an agreement on Iranian gas price since 2010.
Since we did not have other alternatives, we had to continue negotiations with the Russian side, said the Armenian minister, stressing, Armenia has neither legal nor political obligation to purchase gas only from [Russias] Gazprom.
Iran has bartered more than 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas with Armenias electricity over the past six years.
The National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) said recently that around 1.5 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas has been traded with Armenian electricity during the 2007 to 2012 period.
Last year, the Islamic Republic exchanged some 481 million cubic meters (mcm) of gas with the neighboring countrys electricity, the largest amount of bartering between Iran and Armenia in six years.
In November, Movsisyan paid a visit to Tehran. He met with President Hassan Rouhani and his Iranian counterpart, Hamid Chitchian, during his stay.
Movsisyan and Chitchian signed three agreements for the implementation of joint hydropower projects during their November talks in Tehran.
By Press TV
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