Gazprom plans to build 50 km of Power of Siberia pipeline by year end - project’s presentation

MOSCOW, June 29. /TASS/. Russian gas giant Gazprom plans to build 50 km of the Power of Siberia pipeline by the end of the year, according to the project’s presentation unveiled on Monday. According to the documents the launch of the pipeline is slated for 2018 and will be aligned with the commissioning of the infrastructure on the territory of China. On May 21, 2014, Russia’s natural gas monopoly Gazprom and China’s CNPC signed an agreement of the purchase and sale of gas on the "Eastern route." The contract, signed for 30 years, envisages the supply of Russian gas to China in the amount of 38 billion cubic meters per year. The "Eastern route" provides for the delivery to China of gas from the Yakutia and Irkutsk gas production centers through the Power of Siberia main pipeline On May 8, Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) signed an agreement on the basic conditions of gas supplies from Russia to China through the "western route". Now the parties are expected to prepare the final contract. Earlier, Gazprom’s head Alexei Miller said that Gazprom is in talks with China on making payments for gas supplies via the "western route" in Russian and Chinese currencies. The western route envisages gas supplies to China from the fields in Western Siberia; it will be some 2,700 km long and have capacity of about 30 billion cubic meters a year, with further increase to 100 billion cubic meters. The Power of Siberia is a gas transportation system to deliver gas the Yakutsk and Irkutsk gas production centers in Siberia to Russia’s Far East and China. The pipeline’s capacity will be 61 billion cubic meters per year. The pipe’s total length is 3, 968 km. The estimated construction cost is $21.3 bln. The pipeline route will run along the existing route of the Eastern Siberia - Pacific Ocean oil pipeline, though swampy, mountainous and seismically active areas. Read more