"We plan to hold business talks on the issue of large-scale Russian natural gas supply", said Alexander Medvedev, deputy chief executive officer of Gazprom to Chinese commercial circles and reporters at a press conference during Medvedev's recent visit to China. Gazprom is the world's largest natural gas producer and also the biggest gas exporter in the world, according to International Finance News on September 23.

Although China, Japan and the Republic of Korea as Asian and Pacific countries are all important and potential clients for Russia's planned Far East gas network, China, facing a shortfall of 80 billion cubic meters of natural gas supply by 2020, has become increasingly prominent in the network. "We has chosen China for this business introduction, it shows that we pay much attention to China", Medvedev told reporters. Medvedev has no arrangement for the similar activity in Japan or the Republic of Korea. "It is very hard for us to find gas supply routes, although there are potential markets in other Asian countries".

According to Medvedev's introduction, Gazprom is making a research on which will be the priority China projects in its Far East Gas Network. In Gazprom's open natural gas network layout plan, there will be three possible routes for delivering gas to China. Of them, one line may run through the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in the northwestern China and the other two through northeastern China's Heilongjiang Province. The annual capacity is supposed to be between 20-30 billion cubic meters.

In China, China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) has become an important partner for Gazprom. Last October, the two sides signed a "Strategic cooperation agreement". According to the agreement, CNPC will coordinate Russia's gas supply to China concerning terminals and prices. CNPC will also cooperate with Gazprom in other projects, develop natural gas transportation and distribution systems and build underground gas reserve facilities in China as well as implement other cooperative projects involving any third country. Medvedev also disclosed that an agreement between Gazprom and China Petrochemical Corporation is still at the preliminary stage and it is in talks with China National Offshore Oil Corporation.

As for the expenses of the projects, he believes that pipelines within Russia will be built by Gazprom, while those in China will be financed by its Chinese partner.

By People's Daily Online