MOSCOW, August 10. /TASS/. Russian gas giant Gazprom will hold the next round of talks with China on the Power of Siberia-2 project in mid-August, Pavel Oderov, Head of the External Economic Activity of Gazprom, told a phone conference.

According to him, talks on the Power of Siberia and Power of Siberia-2 (Altai pipeline) are underway. "The next round will take place in mid-August," Oderov said.

Earlier on Monday the Kremlin official website reported that President Vladimir Putin ordered the Government to confirm the plan of state aid provided to the Power of Siberia natural gas pipeline construction till September 1, 2015.

In particular, Putin ordered to approve "a package plan of measures to provide state aid provided to construction of gas transport infrastructure objects, including the Power of Siberia main gas pipeline, which are being created within the Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the People’s Republic of China on cooperation in the areas of natural gas supplies from the Russian Federation to the People’s Republic of China on the "eastern" route and designed to natural gas output on deposits located in Russia’s Sakha Republic /Yakutia/ and the Irkutsk Region, its transportation and processing," the report said.

On May 21, 2014 Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corporation signed a 30-year contract on Russia's pipeline gas supplies to China in the amount of 38 billion cubic meters of gas per year. The contract is worth $400 bln. The eastern route stipulates the supply of 38 billion cubic meters of natural gas to China annually from gas deposits in Yakutia in northeast Russia and the Irkutsk Region in East Siberia via the Power of Siberia gas pipeline. The 2,700-kilometer-long western route envisages the supply of 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas to China annually from gas deposits in West Siberia. The western route, called Power of Siberia-2, is intended to run across the highly mountainous area of the Altai region in West Siberia to China.

On May 8, 2015 Russia and China signed a framework agreement on the main terms of gas deliveries via the western route. Now the two sides have to prepare and conclude a contract.