BEIJING, November 9 (RIA Novosti) —Russian energy giant Gazprom is not considering the possibility of attracting an advance payment from China to fund the "Power of Siberia" project, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said Sunday.
"We held negotiations with China regarding the advance, and [at our talks] the advanced payments served as a part of price negotiations," Miller said. "As we have reached the final agreement on price, we are not considering the possibility of attracting advance as a financial instrument for further decreasing the price," he added.
In May, Russia's energy giant Gazprom signed a contract with China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) to export 38 billion cubic meters of Russian gas to China annually for a 30-year period via the eastern route.
The construction of the 3,000-kilometer (1,860-mile) Power of Siberia pipeline, which will be used for the deliveries of Russian gas to China, was launched in Yakutia on September 1. Deliveries are scheduled to start in 2018.
On October 13 Moscow and Beijing have also signed an intergovernmental agreement to cooperate in the delivery of Russian gas to China via the eastern route.
Earlier on Thursday the two countries have signed the memorandum on the delivery of Russian natural gas to China via the western route and the framework agreement on gas supplies between Russia's Gazprom and China's CNPC. According to the Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller the documents provide for the export of 30 billion cubic meters of Russian gas to China annually for a 30-year period.
The western route, or the Altai pipeline, will connect fields in western Siberia with northwest China through the Altai Republic. Second and third sections may be added to the pipeline at a later date, bringing its capacity up to 100 billion cubic meters a year.
