Gazprom, CNPC Sign Gas Pipeline Deal
Russian Gazprom and Chinese CNPC on September 4 signed an engineering, procurement and construction contract to construct the underwater crossing of cross-border gas pipeline, Power of Siberia, under the Amur river. China Pipeline Bureau, a part of CNPC, will be the contractor for the project.
According to a Gazprom statement, the contract was signed by Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller and CNPC chairman Wang Yilin on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hangzhou, China.
In 2014, Gazprom and CNPC signed the sale-purchase agreement for gas to be supplied via the eastern route (Power of Siberia gas pipeline). The 30-year agreement provides for Russian gas deliveries to China in the amount of 38bn m3 every year.
Mitsui's Masami Iijima (left) with Gazprom's Alexei Miller (Credit: Gazprom)
In 2015, the two parties also signed an initial agreement for pipeline deliveries of natural gas from Russia to China via the western route (Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline). At the initial stage, 30bn m3 of gas is planned to be annually delivered from Western Siberian fields.
Meanwhile, on September 2, Miller met with officials from Japanese Mitsui and Korean Kogas to discuss cooperation in LNG space. Miller and Masami Iijima, representative director of Mitsui, met at the Eastern Economic Forum 2016 in Vladivostok to discuss LNG production within the Sakhalin II project. Miller and Iijima signed a MoU to cooperate in feasibility and marketing studies with regard to the bunkering of marine vessels with LNG in Russia's Far East and the Asia-Pacific region.
“Gazprom and Mitsui have successfully cooperated on the Sakhalin II project. Now we have an excellent opportunity to partner in a new business area – small-scale LNG. Joint efforts in the bunkering industry will help our companies diversify our businesses and strengthen our positions in the dynamic Asian market,” said Miller.
The same day Miller met with Lee Seung-hun, president and CEO of Kogas to discuss partnership in the energy sector, namely Russian LNG supplies from the Sakhalin II project. The parties discussed, among other things, the prospects for boosting gas exports to Korea after the commissioning of the third train of the LNG plant, Gazprom said.
Shardul Sharma