Forbes: On Big China Deal, Russia's Gazprom Says Its Ready To Deliver

Russian natural gas giant Gazprom says it is ready to begin deliveries to China in a huge pipeline deal, just as soon as the so-called Western Route is completed in Siberia.

The pipeline has the capacity to ship 30 billion cubic feet of natural gas to China annually. The pipeline is part of a number of Gazprom-China deals worth roughly $400 billion over the next ten years. The bigger pipeline is Power of Siberia line, which is projected to supply 38 billion cubic meters of gas annually over a 30-year period beginning in 2018.

Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) vice president Wang Dongjin signed an agreement on Friday defining the conditions of natural gas supplies from Russia to China via the Western route.

It would seem Russia has discovered it has the world’s No. 2 economy on its border this year. The two countries have been moving aggressively on deals linking the two economies together. The stock exchanges have signed cooperation agreements, making it easier to transact in rubles and renmimbi instead of dollars on the local exchanges. And they announced a joint investment bank, whose first investment is in Chinese agribusiness. MORE