Russian gas giant Gazprom and China's state-owned oil and gas company CNPC have laid basis for a new eastern pipeline route of Russian gas supplies to China. Companies have signed the Heads of Agreement (HoA) outlining the basic parameters of future supplies, i.e. the volumes, the term of the contract, the starting date of supplies, the surge period, and the cross-border point. The final contract is expected to be signed in 2018.
According to the 2014 sales and purchase agreement signed between both companies, gas supplies to China via the Power of Siberia (PoS) gas pipeline project are expected to start in December 2019. Gazprom is currently working on the gas pipeline, which will supply 38 bcm/year of natural gas from the Kovyktinskoye and Chayandinskoye fields in the Irkutsk oblast and in Yakutia to the Blagoveshchensk interconnection point to China.
Gazprom is considering linking its operating Far East gas pipeline network, spanning from the Sakhalin island to Vladivostok, to the Power of Siberia gas pipeline. A gas pipeline could be built between Khabarovsk and Blagoveshchensk.
Source: Gazprom