TEHRAN, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- Iran reached a deal with the Armenian government to deliver nearly 400,000 gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel each day, a deputy oil official said.
Alireza Zeiqami, a deputy director at a national oil refinery and distribution company in Iran, said both sides agreed to deliver equal volumes of gasoline and fuel oil under a new supply agreement, the semiofficial Fars News Agency reports.
Iran sells its gasoline to Armenia in exchange for electricity. The mountainous terrain of northern Iran makes it difficult to connect to the electricity distribution networks in the rest of the country.
Iran last year switched its petrochemical facilities to gasoline production to cope with pressure from economic sanctions, though that measure was characterized by analysts as counterproductive.
Both sides also discussed the construction of a 220-mile oil pipeline connecting the two countries by 2014.
NATO in 2008 warned Armenia that it needed to take steps to increase transparency in the energy sector to counter high energy costs. Iran and Armenia agreed last year to split the cost of the oil pipeline.
