Could Iranian gas be exported to Georgia? (UPDATED)

2016 February 15 (Monday) 11:34:18

Iranian Ambassador to Georgia Abbas Talebi-Fari said last week that there are technical possibilities for natural gas export from Iran to Georgian, reported portal Georgia Online.

“We should, certainly, work on technical issues. Experts and specialists must work on that. I confirm that there is such a possibility. We can use the same Armenian route and Azerbaijani infrastructure. From this viewpoint, this will be a tripartite format of cooperation whether it is Armenia or Azerbaijan. There is also the third possibility – swap, but in this case Iran, Georgia, Russian Gasprom and Armenia should be involved,” he said and added that the last option is the most realistic one.

According to Turan, none of the above-mentioned option could be economically profitable. The commercial deal on power purchase-sale between Georgia and Iran could be considered the most real option. Iran will be able to start export of power, which is generated for it at the Armenian power stations, without any problems. For export of 1 cm of gas to Armenia Iran receives 3 KWh of power in exchange. By increasing gas export to Armenia, Iran could use excess of power to export it to Georgia.

* This year Georgia needs 250-300 mcb of additional volume of gas.—0—