Gazprom To Construct 2 Pipelines To China

Russia's natural gas monopoly Gazprom, said it is in talks with China's largest oil and gas producer to export gas to China through a cross-border pipeline.

Of two possible routes, Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) are under discussion over "which has the priority," Alexander Medvedev, deputy chief executive officer of Gazprom told reporters at a Beijing press conference yesterday.

The finally recommended line may run through northeastern China's Heilongjiang Province or the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in the west, Medvedev said. Each has an annual capacity of as much as 30 billion cubic metres (bcm) a year.

Sources said the western route is expected to link with China's internal west-east Gas Pipeline, which will transport 12 billion cubic metres of natural gas from the Tarim Basin in Xinjiang to Shanghai, some 4,000 kilometres away.

The two lines are being "carefully analysed on both sides," Medvedev yesterday told reporters.

A CNPC official, who declined to be identified, yesterday told China Daily the two companies are "in close contact" over the issue, but declined further comment.