Thursday, February 20 2014

 Prime Minister of Armenia Tigran Sargsyan charged the Government to set up a working group to study the quality of natural gas in the country, Thursday.  Despite numerous statements on the quality of gas, the consumers are still concerned over its quality.  Therefore, the prime minister said, the working group will comprise both specialists and representatives of public organizations.

The initiative came from Robert Nazaryan, Head of the Public Services Regulatory Commission. Nazaryan said that quality of natural gas is tested on the Armenian-Georgian border. Besides, there are labs at Hrazdan and Yerevan TPPs as well as at the Ararat Cement Factory. Nazaryan said that both private and corporate consumers complain about the low caloric value of the gas they are supplied with. He recalled his meetings with the leaderships of the country's big enterprises in May 2013 when he offered them to purchase a joint lab for this purpose. The market cost of such labs is $25,000-$60,000. However, they have not bought any yet, Nazaryan said.

Deputy Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Levon Shakhverdyan said that they began receiving complaints over the gas quality yet long ago. Among the complaining consumers was also Hrazdan TPP that bought a lab in 2000 and made sure that the caloric value of gas meets standards. He offered businessmen to buy a single mobile lab to measure the caloric value of gas.

To recall, on 17 February Gazprom Armenia leadership and members of the Association of Consumers of Armenia met over the gas quality issue. They chose a flat of a journalist present at the meeting on a random basis and took a gas sample that was later tested at a mobile lab of the company.  The results of the examinations conducted at Gazprom Armenia's labs revealed that the caloric value of gas in the country is 8200 kcal. Under the current gas tariff, the caloric value must be 7900kcal.