Russia, China Support Talks of Gazprom, CNPC on Western Route Gas Supply

Russia and China support the ongoing negotiations between Russian energy giant Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) on the so-called western route of gas supply to China, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak 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. Later in the day, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said that the talks on the issue were ongoing and would continue on Tuesday.

"Together we support the ongoing negotiations between the companies and we hope they will conclude on the ground of mutually beneficial positions," Novak said after the session of the China-Russia Energy Cooperation Committee.

Novak added that the negotiations would continue and the work on the issue was ongoing.

In 2014, Gazprom signed a 30-year framework agreement with CNPC for annual deliveries of 38 billion cubic meters of Russian gas through the eastern route pipeline, formally known as the Power of Siberia, which is expected to come on-stream in late 2019.

In 2015, Gazprom and CNPC signed a supplementary agreement on constructing the western route pipeline, known as the Power of Siberia-2. 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.