Russia’s energy giant Gazprom announced on Wednesday that it has started talks with Iran over a scheme to exchange natural gas for exports to Armenia.

The announcement was made by the company’s CEO Alexey Miller.

"Yes, we did discuss this issue, currently we are working on the issues of exchange operations with our Iranian colleagues," Miller has been quoted as saying by Sputnik news agency.

He made the comment when answering a question on whether the gas supplies to Armenia from Iran was touched upon while discussing the transit through Georgia.

On Tuesday, Miller met Georgian Energy Minister Kakhaber Kaladze in Luxembourg for gas supply talks.

At the moment, the Russian gas is supplied to Armenia via Georgia.

In November, Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Zangeneh said Tehran was already in talks with Moscow on certain oil and gas swaps agreements.

Reports emerged last month that suggested Georgia was preparing to sign contracts with Iran over imports of natural gas from the country.

However, Sevak Sarukhanyan, the director of Armenian Center for Society Research Foundation, has been quoted by the media as saying that Georgia would only purchase “virtual” Iranian gas.

“The scheme may be as follows: Georgia will sign a [gas purchase] contract with Iran … and will leave ‘the Iranian gas’ to Russia out of the portion supplied to Armenia. In return, Iran will supply the same [volume] to Iran-Armenia pipeline and the gas will be sold in Armenia as the Russian one. And the Russian gas will respectively be sold in Georgia as the Iranian one”, Sarukhanyan has been quoted as saying by Mediamax news agency.

Iran is currently exporting one million cubic meters per day of natural gas to Armenia. However, Iranian officials recently emphasized that the volume can increase to as high as six million cubic meters per day.

Armenian Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Yervand Zakharyan visited Tehran in October to discuss expansion of Tehran-Yerevan energy ties.  Iran’s Oil Minister Zangeneh told reporters after meeting Zakharyan that Iran is ready to increase gas exports to Armenia.