Mohsen Paknejad, the Minister of Petroleum of the Islamic Republic, raised the prospect of exporting gas through Armenia in a meeting with Davit Khudatian, Armenia’s Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure.

Paknejad did not specify which regional market gas could be exported to via Armenia, but the only regional transit route is the North Caucasus–South Caucasus pipeline, which delivers Russian gas via Georgia to northern Armenia, and its endpoint in Yerevan is, in principle, 400 kilometers from the Iran border.

Among the regional markets, Georgia supplies most of its gas through the five percent transit fee for gas from Azerbaijan to Turkey and Europe, and the rest of its gas consumption is purchased from the Republic of Azerbaijan under a contract that runs until 2046.

Armenia’s other neighbor is Turkey, whose 25-year gas import contract with Iran expires at the end of this month in the Gregorian calendar, and Ankara has so far shown no willingness to extend it. In principle, there is no existing gas pipeline between Turkey and Armenia.