YAKUTSK, September 1 (RIA Novosti) – The Power of Siberia gas pipeline will give Russia the ability to export gas as well as the ability to develop the country’s gas infrastructure, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during the opening ceremony of the pipeline’s construction Monday.
“This project doesn’t only give us the ability to export gas, it gives us the ability to develop the gas infrastructure of our own country, the eastern regions of Russia: the Far East and Eastern Siberia,” Putin said.
In terms of the domestic gas infrastructure, the Power of Siberia pipeline is expected to become a unified gas transmission system (GTS) for the Irkutsk and Yakutia production centers, transporting gas from the regions to Vladivostok via Khabarovsk.
The pipeline will run along the already operational Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean oil pipeline, which should help streamline infrastructure and power supply costs. The first section of the Power of Siberia GTS is expected to go into operation in late 2017.
On May 21, 2014, Gazprom Deputy chairman Alexei Miller and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) chairman Zhou Jiping signed a contract to supply gas from Russia to China via the eastern route. According to the 30-year contract, Russia will deliver 38 billion cubic meters of gas to China annually.
The length of the Power of Siberia gas pipeline is estimated to be about 4,000 kilometers (2,485 miles) and have an annual throughput of 61 billion cubic meters of gas.
