Russia may use independent producers’ gas to boost supplies to China - energy minister

KRASNOYARSK, February 27. /TASS/. Russia’s larger gas supplies to China, which are currently the subject of negotiations with Chinese partners, can be achieved through gas extracted by independent producers, including gas produced at oil and condensate deposits, Energy Minister Alexander Novak said at the Krasnoyarsk economic forum on Friday. "It is possible to create conditions for monetizing this gas and admitting independent producers to the gas pipeline. This will yield its effect for boosting gas supplies [to China], aside from Chayanda and Kovykta [gas deposits]," the minister said. Gazprom Head Alexei Miller earlier said gas supplies to China could be boosted to 100 billion cubic meters a year. Russian President Vladimir Putin gave start on September 1 to the construction of Power of Siberia gas pipeline intended to pump natural gas to the Russian Far East and China. The Power of Siberia gas pipeline estimated at $21.3 billion is intended to pump 61 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually and will stretch over a distance of 3,968 km (2,465 miles). The pipeline is designed to 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. The Power of Siberia will run along the operational East Siberia - Pacific Ocean (ESPO) oil pipeline, crossing marshlands, mountainous and seismically active areas. The first stage envisages the construction of the Yakutia-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok trunk gas pipeline. During the second stage, the Irkutsk gas production center based on the Kovykta deposit will be connected with the Yakutia center based on the Chayanda field. The gas pipeline’s first stage is scheduled to be commissioned in 2017. The Chayanda oil and gas condensate field in the Lensky district of Yakutia was discovered in 1989. The field, one of Russia’s largest undeveloped deposits, holds about 1.45 trillion cubic meters of natural gas and 93 million tons of liquid hydrocarbons. The field is expected to produce up to 25 billion cubic meters of natural gas and at least 1.5 million tons of oil annually. The Kovykta gas condensate deposit discovered in 1987 is located in the north of the Irkutsk Region. The deposit’s reserves are estimated at 1.9 trillion cubic meters of natural gas, 2.3 billion cubic meters of helium and 115 million tons of liquid gas condensate. Read more