Power of Siberia strategic gas pipe project for China - vice-premier

VILLLAGE US KHATYN (Yakutia), September 1 (Itar-Tass) - The Power of Siberia gas pipeline is a strategic project for Russia and China for the next 30 years, with investment of over $400 billion and total supplies of over 1 trillion cubic meters, Chinese Vice-Premier Zhang Gaoli said on Monday. The Chinese vice-premier attended a ceremony of launching the construction of the Sila Sibiri (Power of Siberia) gas pipeline intended to pump natural gas to the Russian Far East and China. “This is indeed the world’s largest transit system, the world’s largest construction project. Thanks to it, we’ll have the second overland energy transit corridor between China and Russia,” Gaoli said. The gas pipeline construction and operation will enable China to enter the Russian natural resources market in the long term, which will provide reliable and safe guarantees for the Chinese economy’s development,” the vice-premier said. Russian President Vladimir Putin attended a ceremony in north-eastern Russia on Monday to launch the construction of the Power of Siberia gas pipeline. The launching ceremony was held near the village of Us Khatyn in Yakutia. In May 2014, Russian energy giant Gazprom and China’s CNPC signed a huge $400 billion contract for the delivery of 38 billion cubic meters of natural gas to China annually for a period of 30 years. The Power of Siberia gas pipeline’s first stage is scheduled to be commissioned at the end of 2017. The pipeline will have an annual capacity of 61 billion cubic meters of natural gas. The construction of China’s section of the Power of Siberia gas pipeline will start in the first half of 2015, the Chinese vice-premier said. “China plans to start the construction of the Chinese section of the gas pipeline in the first half of next year. We should take all efforts to start the gas pipeline operation in 2018,” Gaoli said. The Russian president said ahead of the launch ceremony that the new gas pipeline would make it possible “not only to boost Russia’s export deliveries and expand the geography of our hydrocarbon exports but also to make another serious step towards developing our country’s gas infrastructure, which is especially important for the eastern part.” The next step will be "more interesting from the economic standpoint", the Russian president said. “After we create a network of gas pipelines here, in the Far East and Siberia, we’ll have a possibility to unite the European part of the gas pipeline system with its eastern part and, from the standpoint of export possibilities and expanding the geography of the country’s gas infrastructure development, this will give us big advantages in rechanneling gas flows, depending on the world market situation - either to send more gas to the west and achieve greater effect or to the east,” the Russian president said. Learn more on itar-tass.com