On 23-24 December, Armenia and Russia concluded two major agreements which are aimed at improving Armenia’s energy infrastructure, reported arka.am.

Armenia's Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) has given its approval today to the investment program of Gazprom Armenia national natural gas distributing company for 2021-2025 in the amount of 108.8 billion drams. Gazprom Armenia  plans to invest over 23.3 billion drams in the expansion and repair of the Abovyan underground gas storage facility. It also announced its plans to invest 63 billion drams in the restoration and reconstruction of the gas transportation system.

According to the investment program, almost 21.2 billion drams will be channelled into the gas distribution network. The company also plans to allocate another 2.3 billion drams to connecting new subscribers to the network during the specified period. To note, Gazprom Armenia’s investment program for 2019-2021 was worth 29.6 billion drams. Of this amount, about 24.58 billion drams were channelled into the gas transportation system and 4.75 billion drams into the gas distribution system.

Another important development in the Armeno-Russian energy relations was the signing of documents related to the supply of Russian nuclear fuel for Armenia in 2021. These documents were between the Russian TVEL nuclear fuel cycle company and the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant. According to Rosatom Service, vibration-resistant fuel will be supplied for the VVER-440 reactor of the nuclear power plant in Armenia with the installed capacity of 407.5 MW.

“The long-term relationship between TVEL Fuel Company and the Armenian NPP is of a strategic nature. We have been providing the power plant with high-quality and high-performance nuclear fuel,” said Natalya Nikipelova, President of TVEL JSC. She noted that based on these principles, the company is ready to continue to provide the plant with Russian nuclear fuel until the end of its service life. The Armenian nuclear power plant accounts for about 40% of all electricity generated in Armenia. In the first three quarters of 2020, it generated 1.8905 billion kWh of electricity. Currently, the modernisation of the Armenian NPP is underway to increase its efficiency and safety levels. The key contractor for the project is Rosatom Service JSC.