Landmark gas deal with Russia expected to be finalized
August 31, 2015 Category Foreign trade, Weekly
A landmark gas deal between China and Russia that has been years in the making looks set to be finalized. More than 20 agreements covering finance, transportation and energy cooperation will be signed when Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the September 3 parade in Beijing, said Andrey Denisov, Russian Ambassador to China. “The gas deal looks very likely to be confirmed at the final moment because of its large scale and importance due to international practices,” Denisov said, adding that he was sure that there will be an agreement but that the details won’t be disclosed until the last minute. In May 2014, after 20 years of negotiations, China and Russia agreed to build a natural gas supply line, known as the “eastern route”, that is supposed to deliver 38 billion cubic meters of gas to Beijing and Northeast China annually, starting in 2018. Chen Yurong, Expert with the China Institute of International Studies, said that the Russian Ambassador might have been referring to the “western route”. Negotiations on the western route, a 2,800-kilometer supply line to deliver 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually to Xinjiang over 30 years, began in 2006. According to Chen, the western route framework agreement is not legally binding like that of the eastern route, so it has been postponed and is mired in differences over pricing, while construction of the “eastern route” has begun, the China Daily reports.
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