Because of an accident at a section of the North-South Georgia pipeline (MG) the transit of Russian gas to Armenia was temporarily stopped, ITAR-TASS reported. This was announced today by the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Georgia, Aleko Khetaguri. He, along with the Director General of Oil and Gas Corporation of Georgia (CNGG), Zurab Janjgava, visited the scene of the accident.
Khetaguri said that the accident was caused by a landslide near the village of Mamkoda in the Mtskheta District. According to him, "a landslide damaged a gas main on-site welding of pipes, to repair the damage we need to cut out the damaged section and replace it with a new one, which takes several days." "Work on clearing up the accident has already been initiated, presumably the transit of Russian gas to Armenia will be restored in the evening of March 12, at the most extreme - the morning of March 13," Khetaguri said.
In turn, Janjgava told reporters that the incident "will not affect the gas supply to the population of Georgia, as the main gas supply is intended only for Armenia."
It should be noted that in recent years Georgia's gas supply comes almost entirely from gas supplies from Azerbaijan. Georgia does not receive gas directly from Russia. In accordance with a previously signed agreement between Georgia and Russia, Georgia, as payment for transit of Russian gas to Armenia receives about 10% of its amount. This 10% is about 10% of the gas in the country - the remaining 90% comes from Azerbaijan to Georgia.
The suspension of Russian gas transit through Georgia is not a problem for the gas supply to Armenia, as this country has a gas storage facility, which can provide the country with gas for nearly two months.
