Gazprom has announced that construction of its gas pipeline to China is 99 percent finished. The Russian energy giant is expected to start delivering gas to China via the Power of Siberia line as early as December.
In 2019, the company is planning to invest 147.5 billion rubles ($2.24 billion) into the project which is set to deliver 38 billion cubic meters of Russian natural gas to China annually, according to Gazprom’s Investor Day presentation in Singapore.
Gazprom and the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) sealed a 30-year agreement for gas supplies via the Power of Siberia gas pipeline in 2014. In September, Gazprom reported that the Russian part of the pipeline, running from Yakutia gas production centers to China’s border, was almost complete.
The Russian part of the pipeline goes through three Russian regions, including the Irkutsk and Amur Regions and the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). Construction on the Chinese territory started in April 2017, and is currently close to completion.
Gazprom is planning to conduct the test of the 3,000km (1865 miles) pipeline, bridging all the gaps by December.
The Russian firm announced plans to invest 320 billion rubles ($4.8 billion) into the Amur gas processing plant which is expected to get gas from the Irkutsk and Yakutia gas production centers as part of the Eastern Gas Program.
Gazprom intends to become China’s biggest supplier, making up for more than 25 percent of gas imports by 2035 as the country’s demand for natural gas grows. China is the world’s largest importer of oil and second-biggest buyer of natural gas.
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