Armenia’s energy system has achieved significant progress since a severe crisis in the 1990s, Deputy Director of Noravank Foundation Sevak Sarukhanyan told reporters on March 21.

“Energy security is the most important issue for Armenia, as the country was probably the first state in CIS and the post-Soviet area to be hit by a severe energy crisis,” Sarukhanyan noted.  According to him, the crisis was conditioned by two main factors. “The first is that Metsamor nuclear power plant was closed under public pressure in the late 80s and Armenia’s energy production shifted to thermal power plants, running with fuel oil and natural gas. The Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict in the early 90s, the country’s blockade and destabilized situation in Georgia resulted in thermal power production’s collapse too as we were unable to get natural gas,” he said.

According to the expert, significant progress has been registered in this field within the recent 15 years. “First it was conditioned by re-operation of Armenia’s nuclear power plant, secondly it was due to establishment of ArmRusGasProm Company, which managed to restore Armenia’s ruined gas and transportation system and ensured stable gas imports to Armenia. It should be mentioned these two pivots, particularly the import of natural gas and re-operation of Metsamor nuclear complex ensure Armenia’s energy security.