MOSCOW, Sept. 25 (UPI) — Russian energy giant Gazprom will increase the price of gas exported to Armenia by 40 percent beginning in April 2009, officials said Thursday.
Karen Karapetian with the joint Russian-Armenian natural gas pipeline project ArmRosGazprom said starting April 1 the price for gas would increase from $110 per 1,000 cubic meters to $154.
Another price increase, to $200 per 1,000 cubic meters, is scheduled to go into effect in 2010, and in 2011, Gazprom will peg the price to conditions in Europe, the Azeri Press Agency said.
Earlier, Azerbaijan denied reports there were plans to alter the route of the Western-backed Nabucco pipeline through Armenian territory, citing a territorial dispute between the two countries.
On Tuesday, however, Iran pledged to meet Armenian winter energy demands through a $220 million, 87-mile natural gas pipeline.
“Iran will pump 3 million cubic meters of gas to Armenia during this winter,” said Reza Kasaei Zadeh, director of the Iranian Gas Export Co.