AsianOil: Russia, China sign intergovt deal on Far Eastern gas supplies

Russia and China have signed an intergovernmental agreement on pipeline gas deliveries via the Far East, the Russian energy ministry has reported in a document last week, moving the two sides to a new stage in negotiations on the supply route.

The agreement, signed by the two governments on January 31, sets out the key parameters for a 10 bn cubic metre per year gas supply contract that they clinched in February 2022. It also gives Gazprom the exclusive right to supply gas to China via the route, which will run from the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok pipeline and across the Ussuri river near the Russian border town of Dalnerechensk, north of Vladivostok.

The document also stated that both sides were committed to using their own national currencies for payments under the contract.

The contract covering supplies via the Far East is the second gas supply deal that Russia and China have reached, following the 2014 contract for 38 bcm per year of gas via the Power of Siberia pipeline. Power of Siberia supplies started in 2019 and rose 50% last year to a record 15.5 bcm.

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