The price of Russian natural gas supplied to Armenia will not change at least until next April, Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigorian said on Thursday.
“I cannot give now any information about [what will happen] after April 1,” he told reporters.
Russia’s Gazprom giant raised the gas price by 10 percent, to $165 per thousand cubic meters, last December. The figure was set for this year, meaning that the two sides need to negotiate a new supply contract for 2020 and possibly the following years. Reports in the Armenian press have claimed that Gazprom is planning another price rise.
Grigorian said Russian-Armenian negotiations on the issue are continuing. He insisted that a higher gas price is not a forgone conclusion.
“We are negotiating and doing everything to prevent price fluctuations that would be put a problematic burden on our economy and ordinary consumers,” said the official.
The issue was on the agenda of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin held in Yerevan in October.
“We did not talk about details,” Pashinian told Russian journalists last week. “We talked about a gas price for Armenia that will not break Armenia’s economic dynamics.”
“I am very happy to note that the gas price for Armenia will not go up at least until next spring,” he said. “This is good news.”
Gazprom set in December 2018 the wholesale cost of Russian gas imported by Armenia. The retail prices set by Armenia’s Gazprom-owned gas distribution network for domestic consumers have not changed so far.