Exec says Gazprom in intensive talks with China over gas exports

MOSCOW, Feb 28 (PRIME) -- Russian gas giant Gazprom is in intensive negotiations with China on new gas export routes, but they will take time, Gazprom Export CEO Yelena Burmistrova said on Thursday during the company’s investor day.

“I think that we usually don’t make deals with the Chinese partners that fast, it doesn’t take us six months or a year, it takes more time. But the negotiations are going on intensively,” she said.

Gazprom is discussing higher supplies through the Sila Sibiri (Power of Siberia) pipeline as well as exports through other routes, like the Sila Sibiri-2 pipeline or through the Far Eastern route.

Gazprom and CNPC signed a contract on supplies via the Sila Sibiri pipeline, or the eastern route, in 2014. Gazprom plans to provide China with 38 billion cubic meters of gas per year over 30 years through the pipeline. The company will start supplies via the pipeline with 5 billion cubic meters, and the facility will reach its full capacity in several years.

In 2015, Gazprom and CNPC signed an agreement on the main conditions of gas supplies via the western route, or the Sila Sibiri-2 pipeline. The capacity of the project’s first stage will stand at 30 billion cubic meters annually.

End