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Armenian oil refinery could get green light in February

By M. Alkhazashvili
(Translated by Diana Dundua)
Wednesday, December 26
Armenian Energy Minister Armen Movsisyan announced that next February, a team of Armenian, Russian and Iranian researches will present its final viability report on the construction of an oil refinery in southern Armenia to process Iranian oil.

The report should detail the profitability, or lack thereof, of an Armenian oil refinery and a plan to send oil in a U-turn back to Iran.

The refinery, which would be built near the Iranian border, could cost about USD 2 billion, according to the news agency Regnum.

Its capacity should be in the region of 6.5 million tons of crude oil a year, producing 3.3 million tons of diesel and 2.8 million tons of petrol.

The finished product could wind up in Armenia, Iran and possibly other markets.

The Russian and Armenian presidents were said to have hammered out a plan for the refinery in a Sochi meeting at the start of this year.