MOSCOW, February 05. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s Gazprom increased its stake in Armenia’s ArmRosGazprom from 80% to 100%, the gas giant said in a statement on Wednesday.
Gazprom got the right to control shares in the Armenian company on January 21.
Last December the Armenian government decided to sell a 20 percent stake in ArmRosGazprom to Gazprom to pay off a part of its debt, $155 million, for Russian gas supplies in 2012. At that moment the debt for Russian gas supplies totaled around $300 million. Armenia accumulated the debt following reduction of gas prices for the population.
On December 2, Russia and Armenia signed an intergovernmental agreement on purchase and sale and further operation of the closed joint stock company, ArmRosGazprom.
ArmRosGazprom was founded in 1997 as a joint Russian-Armenian natural gas pipeline project. It buys Russian gas and distributes it through the ArmRosGazprom pipeline, mainly to the domestic market.