Ambassador of Iran to Armenia Abbas Badakhshan Zohuri told journalists on Friday that Iran and Armenia may start cooperating in a new area for both countries — the gas swap.
“There are technical and professional issues that are being studied and discussed by the relevant specialists. It would be wrong to talk about something before they are over. We will wait for the results, but whatever the outcome, it will be in favor of both countries,” Abbas Badakhshan Zohuri told journalists, the Yerevan-based Armenpress news agency reports.
He added that one of the important topics discussed at the 17th Armenian-Iranian intergovernmental meeting, held in Armenia this month, were agreements in the energy sector, some of which relate to the gas swap.
During the negotiations, the sides agreed to increase the export of gas and petrochemical products to Armenia and comprehensively develop bilateral relations.
The two 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. In return, Iran imports electricity from Armenia. Armenia has been importing natural gas from Iran since mid-2009.
The Minister of Petroleum of Iran Javad Owji in a meeting with Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure of Armenia Gnel Sanosyan in Tehran last Monday said his country is ready to transport Turkmen gas to Armenia through a swap system.