The construction of the second Power of Siberia gas pipeline from Russia to Northern China could take up to 10 years because it involves “tremendous work, jobs and negotiations,” the president of the research division of China’s state energy giant CNPC said this week.
Lu Ruquan, president of the CNPC Economics & Technology Research Institute, was speaking at the International Energy Executive Forum when he made the remarks, as quoted by Reuters. These suggest the undertaking is not yet a done deal, even though the two sides struck a definitive agreement to build the infrastructure earlier this year.
Gazprom and CNPC in September signed a “legally binding memorandum” on the construction of the Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline from Russia to China via Mongolia, sending gas from Western Siberia to Northern China.
At the time of the announcement, Gazprom’s head, Alexei Miller, noted that the project’s scale is rather unparalleled, saying that “It should be understood that the project of the Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline construction and the Soyuz Vostok gas pipeline construction, the transit gas pipeline via Mongolia and related gas transport facilities in China, it will now be the largest, having the greatest scale and the most capital-intensive project in the gas industry globally.”
Gazprom and CNPC will be leading the construction project, but have yet to agree on all the details. In the meantime, Gazprom secured Mongolia’s preliminary go-ahead for the construction of the transit pipe between Russia and China. If it moves forward, the Power of Siberia 2 will bring the amount of gas that Russia would be sending to China to over 100 billion cu m annually, which would be equal to the capacity of the twin Nord Stream pipelines that were supposed to carry gas to Germany until they were sabotaged in 2022.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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