STUTTGART, November 26. /TASS/. The construction of eastern and western gas pipelines from Russia to China will not lead to a decrease in gas supplies to Europe, Russian Economic Development Minister Alexey Ulyukayev said on Wednesday.

“The construction of eastern and western gas pipelines to China has no relation to fulfilling our commitments to European consumers,” the minister said at a press breakfast in Stuttgart.

“In this case, the idea is a natural diversification and natural energy balance of supplies for various consumers. We have enough gas for both the East and the West,” he said.

Russia’s Gazprom signed a framework agreement on gas supplies to China via the so-called “western” route at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Beijing in early November. The “western” route, also known as Altai route, will carry gas from fields in western Siberia.

In late May, Gazprom and China’s China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) signed a $400 billion contract for 30 years on Russian gas supplies to China via the so-called “eastern route.”

The Power of Siberia gas pipeline estimated at $21.3 billion is intended to pump 61 billion cubic meters of natural gas to the Russian Far East and China annually and will stretch over a distance of 3,968 km (2,465 miles).