Civilnet
By Lia Avagyan
Azerbaijani gasoline will go on sale in Armenia at a price significantly below current market levels, following last week’s delivery of Azeri fuel to the country, first in decades, according to company officials.
The premium gasoline, also known as ‘AI-95,’ will be sold for 440 drams per liter ($1.16), the head of Mega Trade, one of the buyers, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Monday. Premium gasoline in Armenia currently sells for about 530 drams per liter ($1.39).
This means the Azerbaijani fuel will be around 17% cheaper than the prevailing retail price.
The announcement followed last week’s arrival of a freight train carrying more than 1,200 metric tons of gasoline produced by Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR, which entered Armenia via Georgia. One of the two wholesale buyers of the shipment was Mega Trade, a company controlled by businessman and ruling party lawmaker Khachatur Sukiasian, who is close to the Armenian government.
Mega Trade purchased about 600 metric tons of premium gasoline through an unnamed intermediary and plans to sell it through the Ran Oil gas station chain. The company said the fuel was not imported directly from Azerbaijan but was acquired through a third-party wholesale fuel trader.
The Armenian government has presented the shipment as a result of improved relations with Azerbaijan, describing it as part of broader confidence-building measures. Critics, however, argue that purchasing Azerbaijani fuel effectively provides revenue to a hostile state amid unresolved political and humanitarian disputes.
The name of the second Armenian company involved in the purchase has yet to be disclosed. Armenia imported about 490,000 tons of fuel last year, including liquefied natural gas, with roughly 66% coming from Russia.
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