ST. PETERSBURG, June 28. /TASS/. Gazprom can catalyze talks on the Western Route of gas supplies with China after launching the Power of Siberia gas pipeline, Chief Executive Officer of the Russian gas holding Alexei Miller said on Friday.
"Let’s hope that we will complete one megaproject of the Power of Siberia and I think our talks on this project will become more active," he said.
The term sheet for gas supplies to China over the Western route were signed in 2014 between Gazprom and CNPC, Miller noted. "Terms were determined there - 30 years; volumes - 30 bln cubic meters; profile of supplies and so on. The price is actually the only point missing. As soon as we agree the price with our Chinese comrades, we will start working on this gas pipeline," he added.
Natural gas supplies to China
Currently, Gazprom is building the Power of Siberia gas pipeline, which will pump natural gas from the giant Chayanda oil and gas condensate deposit in Yakutia and the Kovykta gas condensate field in the Irkutsk Region in Eastern Siberia to deliver gas to the domestic market (via Khabarovsk to Vladivostok) and further on for exports to China. The so-called ‘Eastern Route’ stipulates the supply of 38 bln cubic meters of natural gas to China’s eastern regions annually within 30 years to be launched in end-2019. In May 2014, Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) signed a respective sales and purchase agreement. The ‘Western Route’, which envisions the delivery of 30 bln cubic meters of gas from Russia’s Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Region through the Altai Region to northwest China within 30 years, has been defined as the second in terms of importance.