TEHRAN, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Armenia is interested in increasing natural gas imports from Iran, Sassan Khachaturian, managing director of Armenia's Yerevan thermal power plant, was quoted as saying Wednesday.
Khachaturian made the remarks Tuesday after holding talks with an Iranian delegation in Armenia's capital Yerevan, the Financial Tribune daily reported.
He added that Armenia plans to increase its electricity exports to oil and gas-rich Iran.
"Armenia is ready to export more electricity to Iran during the hot summer days," Khachaturian said, calling for more gas imports from Iran to meet his country's demand in winter.
Iran exports electricity to Armenia in winter and imports it when domestic demand soars in summer. Iran is connected to Armenia through two electricity lines, and a third is under construction.
Ali Amirani, head of the Iranian delegation to Yerevan, expressed hope that Iran's electricity exchange with Armenia would increase four times to around 1,200 megawatts once the construction of the third power transmission line is finished.
Iran's gas supply to Armenia is seasonal and Turkey is the only country that purchases Iranian gas throughout the year under a long-term contract.
Earlier, Iran's Petroleum Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said that his country plans to increase its natural gas exports to Armenia from the volume of 1 million cubic meters per day (mcm/d) to 3 mcm/d by 2019. Enditem
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