Turkey to Send Oil, Gas, Water to Israel

Wonder why Israel has no opinion on Karabakh? Wonder why the Jewish lobby is against the Armenian Genocide resolution? You can add one more reason to the list:

Turkey and Israel have tentatively agreed on building a network of pipelines to ship oil, natural gas and water from Turkey to Israel...Under the project, a pipeline already carrying Russian natural gas to Turkey will be extended to deliver supplies to Israel, the ministry said. The deal was reached earlier this month...

The oil shipments to Israel would be delivered through an extension of either an existing Iraqi oil pipeline to Ceyhan or one that Turkey is planning to build from Samsun to Ceyhan to export Caspian oil, the ministry said. Turkey would also build a new fresh water pipeline to carry Turkish water from the Mediterranean region to Israel.

There's one of your answers to a hundred questions. We must tackle Armenian issues now before they become impossible later.

Source: Boston

Armenia Wants Participation in Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline

From the source:

"Armenia would like to take part in the construction and negotiations over the matter are under way now. However, they produced no results so far", he [Oskanyan] said. The minister said Armenia should make all possible efforts not to be left on sidelines, since participation in the project will enable the country to diversify its energy system.

The project is estimated to cost $2.5bln to 3bln. The two-thousand-kilometer gas pipeline will start from Turkmenistan and cross Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan and Georgia.

Look at the above map and note why Armenia would very much like to take part in this project!

Source: Arka

Iran Ready to Send Gas, Armenia Not Ready to Receive It

We've reported earlier about Iran's exporting of natural gas to Armenia in January of this year, but it turns out that it will happen much later, because we didn't bother getting ready!

Iran has completed setting up the facilities required for the exportation of natural gas to Armenia, reported the Iran Daily. Although Iran is prepared to export the gas at any time, Armenia is not yet ready to receive it and a meeting is scheduled between both sides in late March. As part of the deal, Armenia will also export power to Iran.

Well, there you have it. I am very interested in finding out the pricing structure for the imported gas. Will it put us at odds with Russia?

Source: AmeInfo

Russian Gas Pipeline Ruptures

According to ArmeniaLiberty, the section of the pipeline going through Georgia has been damaged.

Armenia was receiving a fraction of its regular gas supplies from Russia for a third consecutive day on Wednesday due to the reported rupture at a vital pipeline running through neighboring Georgia.

Georgian officials say a section of the pipeline was ruptured by an avalanche on Sunday. Armenia has since been importing Russian gas through a much smaller reserve pipeline.

Russian gas is used for generating about 40 percent of Armenia's electricity. It is also the principal source of winter heating.

And yet again, our previous post makes perfect sense!

Iran to Ship Gas to Armenia

According to Bloomberg,

Iran will start shipping gas through a pipeline to Armenia in January, the Tehran Times reported Sunday, citing an Iranian official.

About 1 million cubic meters of natural gas will be shipped daily through the 160-kilometer pipeline, said Mohammad-Reza Akbari, the managing director of Payandan, the company operating the pipeline. That will increase to 3 million cubic meters per day “later on,” he said.

It's pretty obvious that this is the first step towards greater cooperation between the two countries, as seen in a previous post. Independence from Russia's gas monopoly is always a good thing, but there may be a greater price to pay.