Iran, Armenia plan oil pipeline

YEREVAN, Armenia, Dec. 23 (UPI) -- The completion of a 186-mile oil pipeline from Iran to Armenia is expected to help diversify regional energy resources, Armenian energy officials said.

Armenian Energy Minister Armen Movsisyan spoke to reporters about the progress of the $220 million pipeline expected to be completed by 2011, the Iranian Press TV said.

"Armenia will receive petrol and diesel fuel from the oil refinery located in the Iranian city of Tabriz through the pipeline, construction of which starts next spring," he said.

Russian, Armenian and Iranian officials attended the inauguration of a final state of a natural gas pipeline from Iran Dec. 2. Armenia will convert gas from that pipeline to electricity, which it will transfer back to Iran.

These developments follow statements from NATO officials that warned Armenia in September it needed to take steps toward transparency to counter high energy costs.

Azerbaijan, meanwhile, refuted reports that Armenia would host the Western-backed Nabucco pipeline, in part because of territorial disputes over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

"In order to guarantee the country's energy security we are moving toward the diversification of energy supplies," Movsisyan said.