Putin graces launch of Russia-China mega-gas line work
2 Sep 2014 12:08 AM GMT
Russia launched construction on Monday of a $20.8 billion gas pipeline that will bring gas from the far east of the country to China. ‘We are starting the biggest construction project in the world,’ President Vladimir Putin said at the ceremonial joining of the first sections of the 3,968-km pipeline outside the eastern Siberian city of Yakutsk.
‘But it is not about records, it is the fact that it is an extremely important project for the Russian Federation and People's Republic of China,’ he said . China's Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli, who was also in attendance at the ceremony, said he hoped the pipeline would be completed within four years.
‘China already plans in the first half of next year to start building the Chinese section of the pipeline and we should make an effort to complete construction and begin exploitation of the pipeline in 2018,’ he said. In May the two countries signed a 30-year deal which will eventually see Russia supplying China with 38 billion cubic metres of gas per year, an agreement worth some $400 billion.
The pipeline, which will have a total capacity of 61 billion cubic metres per year, will also link the gas fields in Yakustsk and Irkustsk to cities across the Russian far east. Putin said earlier that the project would allow for increased hydrocarbon exports and was ‘also a major step forward in the gasification of our own country.’
‘But it is not about records, it is the fact that it is an extremely important project for the Russian Federation and People's Republic of China,’ he said . China's Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli, who was also in attendance at the ceremony, said he hoped the pipeline would be completed within four years.
‘China already plans in the first half of next year to start building the Chinese section of the pipeline and we should make an effort to complete construction and begin exploitation of the pipeline in 2018,’ he said. In May the two countries signed a 30-year deal which will eventually see Russia supplying China with 38 billion cubic metres of gas per year, an agreement worth some $400 billion.
The pipeline, which will have a total capacity of 61 billion cubic metres per year, will also link the gas fields in Yakustsk and Irkustsk to cities across the Russian far east. Putin said earlier that the project would allow for increased hydrocarbon exports and was ‘also a major step forward in the gasification of our own country.’
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