Russian Gas for China to Flow Through Power of Siberia Pipeline in 2018

The start of the gas pipeline's exploitation is slated for 2018.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The Power of Siberia gas pipeline delivering Russian fuel to China will go into exploitation in 2018 and will be synchronized with China’s infrastructure, according to government papers prepared ahead of the ceremonial launch of the pipeline’s construction in China.

According to the documents, the projection of the main line of the Power of Siberia from the Chayanda field in Russia’s Yakutia to Lensk on the border with China has been handed over to experts for government analysis.

Project survey work is currently underway on the Lensk-Belogorsk-Blagoveshchensk and Belogorsk-Khabarovsk threads.

In 2014, Russia’s state-owned energy company Gazprom signed a 30-year framework deal with China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) to deliver 38 billion cubic meters of gas to China annually.

Russia started building its branch of the 2,500-mile pipeline last year. It estimates that the line’s gas-transmission system (GTS) will go on-stream in late 2017. The total cost of gas production and transmission facilities in Russia is estimated to be $55 billion.