Iran and Armenia are scheduled to meet in January to review, and revise the terms of their electricity-for-gas swap deal, Tasnim news agency reported Sunday.
Iran signed a 20-year contract in May 2009 to import electricity from Armenia in exchange for gas exports from the northwestern neighbor. According to the agreement, Iran should continue exports until 2029 with or without the import of electricity.
The country exported 1.1 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas to Armenia in the first year of the contract. The volume was to reach 2.3 bcm after four years. However, only a total of 481,000 million cubic meters was swapped for electricity in 2012. The deal also requires Armenia to export 3.3 million kilowatts (KW) electricity to Iran annually.
Iran exported an average 1.3 million cubic meters per day (mcm/d) of gas to Armenia in 2013, despite the fact that the volume should have reached 6.3 bcm/d in 2014.
According to reports, Iran has the capacity to export up to 10 mcm/d of gas to Armenia, thanks to its extensive infrastructure in the northwest. However, supply has not reached full potential, but the reasons for this are unrelated to infrastructure.
Last week, establishment of a third electricity transmission line was discussed between the Iranian Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian and his Armenian counterpart Yerevan Zakharian in Tehran.
Iran is the largest exporter and importer of electricity in the Middle East and exports electric power to Armenia, Pakistan, Turkey, Iraq, and Afghanistan. The country's electricity industry ranks 14th in the world and first in the Middle East in terms of generation with an installed capacity of 72,000 MW.
