Gazprom Export, the export arm of energy giant Gazprom, and PetroChina, a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), have agreed the basic terms of Russian natural gas supplies to China, Gazprom said Monday.
A Gazprom delegation led by deputy CEO Alexander Medvedev held the final round of commercial negotiations with CNPC this year on supplies of Russian gas to China along the western and eastern routes.
"The agreement defines the basic commercial and technical terms of Russian natural gas supplies to Chinese consumers," Gazprom said in a statement.
Under the western option, gas will be supplied from West Siberia, while under the eastern route, gas will be pumped from East Siberia, the Russian Far East, and offshore Sakhalin deposits.
Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said in early December that Russia's future natural gas exports to China would be equivalent to around one third of its Europe-bound gas supplies.
"I believe that the volume of gas supplies to China will be about a third of the volume of our European gas supplies," Kupriyanov said in an interview with international news channel Russia Today.
"The eastern market will clearly not be as large as the European market, simply because it began developing later, but its development will be more intensive than the European market over the coming years," he said.
Gazprom Deputy CEO Alexander Medvedev earlier said that the Russian energy giant planned to increase gas exports to countries outside the Commonwealth of Independent States by 13% in 2010 from the current year to 160.8 billion cubic meters and foreign currency proceeds by 18% to $50.3 billion.
In 2009, Gazprom expects to receive over $40 billion in foreign currency proceeds from its gas exports to non-CIS countries.
Gas exports to non-CIS countries in 2009 are expected to reach 142.5 billion cubic meters.
MOSCOW, December 28 (RIA Novosti)
