Medvedev in Armenia for economic talks

YEREVAN, Armenia, Oct. 21 (UPI) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev arrived in Armenia Tuesday as the country struggles with oil infrastructure and energy imports.

Russia said earlier it had pulled out of development of an oil refinery in Armenia. Igor Levitin, the Russian transport minister, said Moscow investors are no longer interested in developing a 35 million-barrel-per-day refinery because of the high cost of oil processing, Trend Capital News said Tuesday.

Armenia lacks domestic oil production, leaving the country reliant on Iran and Russia for energy imports. The country imports about 7 billion cubic feet of natural gas from Russia each year and converts Iranian gas to electricity to trade back to the Islamic Republic.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration said the domestic consumption in Armenia is completely dependent on imports.

Territorial disputes over the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, which Armenia occupies, have brought difficulties to the country economically.

Though Medvedev said his country was interested in brokering an agreement of the territories, his prime objective was to ease regional repercussions from the global economic crisis.