Russia has agreed to a 9 percent reduction in the price of its natural gas supplied to Armenia, it was announced during Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s official visit to Yerevan on Thursday.
The chairman of Russia’s Gazprom giant, Alexei Miller, and Deputy Energy Minister Anatoly Yanovsky signed corresponding agreements with Armenian officials after taking part in Medvedev’s talks with his Armenian counterpart Hovik Abrahamian.
Abrahamian told reporters afterwards that the wholesale price of Russian gas for Armenia will fall from $165 to $150 per thousand cubic meters. But he would not say whether the gas tariff for Armenian consumers will also go down by 9 percent. “We will discuss this issue with relevant bodies and inform our public,” he said.
Yerevan asked for a gas price cut early this year, citing the collapse in international oil prices. Gazprom’s market-based tariff for European countries has plummeted from an average of $350 to around $200 per thousand cubic meters in the last 18 months, making the Russian discount for Armenia much less significant.
President Serzh Sarkisian reportedly discussed the issue with Russian President Vladimir Putin when he visited Moscow last month.
Armenia receives roughly 80 percent of its gas from Russia.