CAPITAL: Yerevan

MONETARY UNIT: Dram

REFINING CAPACITY: None

OIL PRODUCTION: None

OIL RESERVES: None

GAS RESERVES: None

Armenia has no oil production, known reserves, or refineries, so it is completely dependent on imports of refined products.

Since there are no products pipelines into Armenia, all imports must come via rail cars or trucks. Most of Armenia`s estimated 13,000 b/d in products imports comes from the 106,436 b/d Batumi refinery in southern Georgia.

While a modest volume of exploration for oil within Armenia was undertaken in the mid-1990s, mostly by Greek and US firms, the Armenian energy minister announced in April 1999 that exploration activity had ceased because of a lack of funds.

Armenian officials occasionally spoke of potential cost savings if the main pipeline for export of oil from Azerbaijan to the Turkish port of Ceyhan were built through northern Armenia. This seemed unlikely, however, because of the lack of a resolution to the dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijani officials had publicly stated that they would not consider the idea since the route through Georgia had already been decided and Azeri-Armenian animosity remained high.

Transportation

Armenia received all its natural gas-about 46 bcf in 1997-from Turkmenistan through Russian and Georgian pipeline networks.

The Armenian government planned to privatize the national gas grid and distribution company, Armengazprom, and in 1999 was analyzing its options for selling these assets.

Armenia explored the option of using other gas suppliers, mainly Iran. The project under consideration would involve a $120-150 million pipeline linking the Armenian and Iranian gas grids, allowing import of Iranian gas. Armenia sought funding for the project from the World Bank, and Greek officials met with their Armenian counterparts about possible Greek participation in the project.