Prime minister: Gas agreements with Russia are successful

Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan considered as successful the agreements signed with Russia on the terms of purchase and sale of ArmRosGazprom Company’s shares and its further operations and on the formation of the price of natural gas supplied to Armenia.

“I consider these agreements successful. Armenia thus acquired the right to receive gas on privileged terms. Our citizens and business entities can be sure that an increase in the gas price will not affect them. The signed agreements established the rules of game. In the next five years the gas price in Armenia will be established, taking into account the Russian domestic prices, while a 30% customs duty will not be imposed,” T. Sargsyan told a press conference today.

He stated that the talks with Russia over the gas price were completed in 2013.

“We came to an agreement on all the issues. Earlier we could not agree to the tariffs proposed by Gazprom because the prices for consumers would have doubled. In the past three years we have examined many options to prevent the gas price rise from affecting consumers. At that time some problems arose in relations of Gazprom and ArmRosGazprom because the gas was supplied at the contract prices, while consumers received gas at other prices, due to the continuing negotiations,” T. Sargsyan said.

“As a result, a debt had accumulated and during the negotiations Armenia and Russia decided to share that debt. A decision was made to transfer 20% of ArmRosGazprom’s shares amounting to $150 million to Russia to pay the debt. It is an acceptable option for us,” the Armenian prime minister noted.