YEREVAN, January 29 (RIA Novosti) - A spokesman for the Armenian president confirmed that Russian energy giant Gazprom [RTS: GAZP] was considering a project to build an oil refinery in southern Armenia near the Iranian border.
"I can confirm that Russia's Gazprom is considering the possibility of building an oil refinery in Armenia," Viktor Sogomonyan said, adding that negotiations were in the initial stage.
He said Armenian President Robert Kocharyan had discussed the project during his visit to Russia last week. Russian President Vladimir Putin said after the talks that Russian mobile operator VimpelCom [RTS: VIMP], aluminum company RusAl and Gazprom would double their investment in the Armenian economy to $1.5 billion.
