Gazprom Working on Draft Agreement to Construct Power of Siberia 2 Pipeline

Gazprom has been instructed to work through the draft agreement for the construction of the Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline in detail and to get it signed according to Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak.

• "Instructions have been issued to ensure agreement [of the contract for Power of Siberia 2]. If something happens this year, we'll see when the company carries this out, but the faster the better and more effective," Novak said.
• The 2,600-km pipeline could carry 50 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas a year, slightly less than the now defunct Nord Stream 1 pipeline linking Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea.
• Putin said Russia, China and Mongolia had completed "all agreements" on finishing the pipeline to ship Russian gas to China, and that Russia will deliver at least 98 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas to China by 2030.
• Putin hosted Xi Jinping this week, warming relations further between the countries with the aim of committing to the larger long term energy deals.
• It is unclear if China will want these sorts of volumes of gas in the short to medium term and Russia may be forced to reduced production. The deal between China and Russia may not be fully finalised currently with finer details still likely needed to be sorted.