Page 58 - IRANRptNov19

9.1.14 ​Utilities sector news
Iran’s Petroleum Minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh and Armenia’s Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Suren Papikyan met on November 3 and discussed the exchange of natural gas and electricity between their neighbouring countries.
Zangeneh described the energy sector as the most important field in relations and exchanges between Iran and Armenia, according to local news outlets. Small, impoverished Armenia has to date not encountered significant objections from US Trump administration sanctions officials over its continued level of business with its far larger neighbour. Given that Yerevan has no diplomatic relations with either Azerbaijan or Turkey, Iran has a vital role to play in sustaining and building the Armenian economy.
“Iran’s export of gas to Armenia in exchange for importing electricity is part of mutual cooperation,” Zangeneh was cited as affirming.
Iran and Armenia signed a barter deal on trading gas for electricity for 20 years in 2004. Under the arrangement, Iranian gas is consumed by power plants in Armenia and Armenian electricity flows to Iran under a barter. Armenia started to import gas from Iran in mid-2009.
Iran has signed a preliminary agreement with Syria to help rebuild the Arab ally’s electricity grid, the Iranian Energy Ministry announced on November 2.
Having helped the Damascus regime to bring rebels to heel across most of the country in the Syrian Civil War, Tehran will be hoping for a growing economic peace dividend. Iranian engineering firms see Syria as a good opportunity for new business, especially since US sanctions prevent them from entering other markets and also bar some foreign commercial rivals from taking contracts in Syria. However, there are Russian and Chinese competitors that shrug off the sanctions threat who are offering long-term low-interest loans for the post-war reconstruction of Syria.
The preliminary deal takes the form of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on "comprehensive cooperation" between the Iranian Ministry of Energy and the Syrian Electricity Ministry. The two signatories were Minister Mohammad Zuheir Harbutli on the part of Syria and Reza Ardakanian, the Iranian Minister of Energy.
IRNA quoted Zuheir Harbutli as saying that Syria’s electricity grid had suffered damages of 50% and that “Iran’s role is important” in the reconstruction.
"We plan and intend, within three years, to create the necessary infrastructure for the implementation of this [electricity grid] program," Ardakanian said.
He added that in the near future Tehran planned to transfer electricity between Iran and Syria via Iraq, which is already integrated into Iran's power grid.
The ministers also signed up for the forming of a joint Iranian-Iraqi-Syrian consortium. It would, for instance, give Iranian engineering companies access to contracts for the construction of thermal power plants and restoration of damaged energy infrastructure.
During the autumn of last year, Iran’s big MAPNA engineering group signed an agreement with the Syrian Energy Production Organization to build a 540 MW power plant in the city of Latakia in western Syria.
The US State Department on October 17 extended by 120 days a waiver on sanctions to allow Iraq to import gas and electricity from Iran.
“The waiver ensures that Iraq is able to meet its short-term energy needs while it takes steps to reduce its dependence on Iranian energy imports,” the State
58​ IRAN Country Report​ November 2019 www.intellinews.com