High-Level Talks Address Russian-Chinese Gas Connection

Chinese energy chief Zhou Jiping visited Moscow last week, where he met Alexey Miller of Gazprom for discussions on the long-running issue of gas supplies for the People's Republic.

Gazprom said it discussed terms for a pipeline for eastern gas deliveries with Chinese officials. Their CEO Miller met Zhou, president of the China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), to discuss bilateral cooperation.

Miller said special attention was paid to development of the Altai pipeline to China, according to UPI. The Altai pipeline would run from natural gas fields in Western Siberia to the northern Chinese border. The planned 1,700-mile pipeline could carry as much as 1.05 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas per year.

"The Altai gas pipeline construction will start only after the gas purchase and sale agreement is signed with the Chinese party," Gazprom said in a statement.

In July, Russian technicians from Gazprom visited China to examine shale natural gas fields under development by CNPC.

China has not produced shale gas on a commercial scale because of complex geology and a lack of domestic experience. Beijing aims to produce as much as 230 billion cubic feet of shale gas per year by 2015.

Talks over what would be a massive energy deal between Russia and China have been going on since the two sides signed a framework agreement in 2009.

Under the deal, Gazprom would deliver up to 68 billion cubic meters of gas to China annually for 30 years but the price of the gas supplied has been a major stumbling block preventing both sides from signing a final agreement.

See also: The Gas Triangle: China, Russia, Europe