Armenian government and Gazprom reach no final decision on arg share
19.06.2013,
15:43
The government of Armenia and Russia’s Gazprom have not yet reached a final decision on the sale of the 20% stake in Armenia’s national gas operator ArmRosGazprom (ARG), owned by the government of Armenia, to Gazprom, Lusineh Harutyunyan, a spokesperson for Armenian ministry of energy and natural resources, told ARKA.
YEREVAN, June 19. /ARKA/. The government of Armenia and Russia’s Gazprom have not yet reached a final decision on the sale of the 20% stake in Armenia’s national gas operator ArmRosGazprom (ARG), owned by the government of Armenia, to Gazprom, Lusineh Harutyunyan, a spokesperson for Armenian ministry of energy and natural resources, told ARKA.
The Russian energy giant revealed on June 17 that its chief executive, Alexei Miller, discussed the matter in Moscow with Armenian energy and natural resources minister Armen Movsisian.
“In the course of negotiations the aspects of Russian gas pricing for Armenian consumers were discussed,” Gazprom said in a statement.
Gazprom already owns 80 percent in ARG. If the deal succeeds it will take control of all 100 percent. Lusineh Harutyunyan said minister Movsisyan returned yesterday fr om Moscow, wh ere he discussed with Gazprom representatives the possible sale of the remaining stake in the gas distributor. She said there is no clarity about when the final decision could be made.
"As soon as Gazprom and the government of Armenia reach a final decision, we will provide official information", she said.
She declined to comment on media allegations that the Armenian government seeks to sell its stake in the ARG to get money to finance a 30 percent subsidy of the gas price after it was raised by Armenia’s Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC).
Some newspaper stories reported on Wednesday that by the end of 2011 ARG’s charter capital stood at 312 billion drams, and that of the government at 6.24 billion drams or about $ 150 million, as much as the government needs to cover the promised 30 percent subsidy.
On May 14 PSRC ruled that ARG can raise the price of gas for households using up to 10,000 cubic meters a month from 132,000 per one thousand cubic meters to 156,000 drams. -0-
