Russia, China to Continue Talks on Western Route Gas Deliveries on May 31

Russian energy giant Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller and Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli will continue the discussion of gas deliveries to China via the so-called western route pipeline known as the Power of Siberia-2, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said Monday.

SOCHI (Russia) (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, Russian Deputy Energy Minister Anatoly Yanovsky said that Russia and China were in talks on the issue of gas deliveries via the western route and discussed possible price of gas supplies.

"Tomorrow the consultations on the issue would continue between Mr. Zhang Gaoli and head of Gazprom Alexey Miller," Dvorkovich told reporters.

He added that it would be possible to speak about any significant changes on the issue only after the Tuesday talks.

Russia and China have been stepping energy cooperation efforts. In 2014, Gazprom signed a 30-year agreement with the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) for annual deliveries of 38 billion cubic meters of Russian gas through the eastern route pipeline, formally known as the Power of Siberia. The project is scheduled to begin supplying gas sometime between May 2019 and May 2021, starting from 5 billion cubic meters per year and gradually rising.

In 2015, Gazprom and the CNPC signed a supplementary agreement on constructing a second "western route" pipeline. The Power of Siberia-2 has a planned annual capacity of 30 billion cubic meters, with possible second and third legs bringing annual capacity up to 100 billion cubic meters.