YEREVAN, Armenia, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- Armenian officials Monday denied claims from Iran it started receiving natural gas shipments from the Islamic Republic, saying transports were weeks off.
Iranian energy officials said last week natural gas would reach Armenia through a recently completed pipeline by Oct. 13. Both sides had agreed to a deal in which Armenia would trade electricity in exchange for natural gas.
Armenia gets around 7 billion cubic feet of natural gas from Russia each year and is expected to continue at that level for some time, satisfying most of the domestic demand, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported. The gas from Iran would be converted to electricity and traded back to the country.
"So there is no need to import additional gas," said Lusine Harutiunian, a spokeswoman for the Armenian Energy Ministry.
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan hailed the September unveiling of the pipeline with Iran, saying it contributed to regional energy security.
"Thank God, the gas pipeline has already been built, and we can receive gas from the Islamic Republic of Iran as early as tomorrow," he said. "Work on enhancing the capacity of that pipeline will likely end in late October or early November."
