YEREVAN, DECEMBER 20, NOYAN TAPAN. The damaged section of the gas pipeline, through which Russian gas is supplied to Armenia through the territory of Georgia, has been restored. Alexander Khetaguri, President of the Georgian Oil and Gas Corporation, stated this on December 20. In his words, the restored section is being tested, and the gas supply to Armenian consumers will resume soon. However, responding to NT's inquiry, the spokeswoman for ArmRusgazprom CJSC Shushan Sardarian neither confirmed nor denied this information, explaining this by the absence of contact between company experts and their Georgian colleagues. To recap, the gas pipeline in Georgia was damaged in the morning of December 18 because of an avalanche at the Ananuri-Dusheti section, as a result of which the 1.2 thousand mm-diameter pipe was damaged. After this, about one third of the needed gas is being supplied to Armenia through a reserve gas pipeline. The official representative of Gazprom Sergei Kuprianov on December 19 stated that if repair work of the gas pipeline is protracted, Armenia's underground gas depots may remain without gas reserves this winter.

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