Beijing wants more Russian gas as Gazprom’s mega pipeline to China nears completion

China is interested in extra supplies of Russian gas through the Power of Siberia pipeline which is nearing completion, according to the Russian state-run energy giant, Gazprom, that is implementing the project.

“The Chinese partners are very interested in additional volumes, though the final amount as well as the price is not agreed yet,” the head of Gazprom’s export branch Elena Burmistrova said at the company’s news conference in Moscow.

The top executive stressed that the Russian energy major expects formal arrangements on the issues to be reached in the near future.

The Power of Siberia is a 4,000km (2485 miles) long pipeline which is aimed at delivering natural gas from the Russian region of Yakutia to Primorsky Krai and then to Asia. Gazprom, which is constructing the Russian part of the pipeline, is planning to export 38 billion cubic meters of the blue fuel to China by 2025.

Gazprom and the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) signed a 30-year contract for gas supplies via the Power of Siberia in 2014. Last September, the Russian firm reported the pipeline running from Yakutia’s gas production centers to the Chinese border, was almost complete.

Construction on the Chinese side started in April 2017, and is reportedly close to completion. The pipeline is expected to start operating in December 2019.

Earlier this year, Gazprom announced plans to invest $2.24 billion in the project. Moreover, the company intended to invest $4.8 billion into the Amur gas processing plant which is expected to receive gas from production centers in Irkutsk and Yakutia as part of the Eastern Gas Program.

The Russian energy corporation is pursuing an ambitious goal to become China’s biggest supplier, accounting for more than 25 percent of gas imports by 2035 as the country’s demand for natural gas continuously increases. China is the world’s largest importer of oil and second-biggest buyer of natural gas.

For more stories on economy & finance visit RT's business section