“Kommersant” reports that “Gazprom” continues to look for ways to get outside Russia’s borders. The company is studying the possibility of Armenian fuel coming into retail market. Newspaper sources said that the authorities of the country had made the appropriate proposal to the company.
“Gazprom” has the potential to become the main supplier of oil exports and make a joint venture with one of the local companies, which, in turn, will create 40-50 refueling stations, as well as the fuel charge in the airport complex. How they will share joint enterprise shares s not clear yet.
“The company has just begun to study the proposal” writes the interlocutor of the newspaper. “Gazprom” has not commented on this information.
The volume of Armenian oil market is estimated at 340-360 thousand tons. The main dimensions are supplied by Romanian OMV factory, through Georgian Poti port, and then by railway. In addition, there is an oil refinery factory in Romania, which is owned by a Russian company. According to the newspaper sources, two organizations supply petroleum products in the market – “Mika Limited” Ltd company, which is controlled by businessman Mikhail Bagdasarov, and “Flash” Ltd. The fuel charger already installed in Yerevan belongs to Baghdasarov, who owns The “Armavia” as well.
“Komersant’s” source reported that from the fuel charging terminal services for the flights to Yerevan, “Armavia” is the only one which uses local fuel, because the prices of kerosene are higher. The newspaper reports that the prices of fuel in Yerevan are much higher than in Moscow.
“Armenia’s market can be exciting for “Rusneft”, the company wants to reach other regions, especially, fuel business continues to be great value-added business,” reports “Nomos” bank’s analyst Denis Borisov.
“However, in terms of optimal logics, the road of supply to Armenia is through Black Sea and Georgia’s Poti Sea Port, which is complicated because of the political factors,” mentions the expert. “Fuel supply to Armenia through Azerbaijan does not happen,” thinks “Troika Dialog’s” analyst Valeriy Nesterov. “However Armenia get gas via Georgia’s territory and hardly Armenia wants toworsen the relations between the two countries, so it is possible that “Rusneft” has genuine opportunities for the export of fuel,” concludes the paper.
