DUBAI, October 6. /TASS/. Natural gas supplies from Russia to China over the Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline will start in 2030s irrespective of the global geopolitical situation, Dave Ernsberger, the co-chairman of S&P Global Commodity Insights, told TASS in an interview.

"It seems likely that Power of Siberia 2 will move ahead. And I think it would move ahead, no matter what the situation was in the world, geopolitically, because from an energy markets perspective, you know, doubling the amount of gas going into China with another pipeline makes sense to China, and it makes sense to Russia. So I think the startup date is sometime in 2030s, by which time, China will still be consuming a lot of energy. And so I'm pretty sure it will go ahead," the expert said.

"I think the effect will be that China will be importing, you know, around 20 to 30 million tons a year less of LNG. It's about to push LNG back out into the market, and China will be importing pipeline gas from Russia instead, and I think that's a much more efficient way to bring in the gas," Ernsberger noted.

"I think China has already demonstrated that it considers Russia to be a trusted partner," the analyst said. Nevertheless, "China will never depend on any one country" and "it will always diversify," he noted. "China will be careful, in my opinion, to never let any one country account for more than 20% of its energy," Ernsberger added.