Agreement on a Sino-Russian natural gas pipeline deal failed to materialize in time for Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit to Moscow on Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported. The project consists of two natural gas pipelines running from Siberia into China. It is estimated to cost about US$100 billion, and could generate some 2% of Russian GDP each year of operation. Negotiations between Russian energy giant Gazprom (OGZD.LSE, GAZ.FWB, GAZP.RTS) and China National Petroleum began with a framework agreement in 2009 to ship 70 billion cubic meters of gas to China. Though some analysts had expected some sort of agreement to materialize for Hu’s visit, the negotiations have stalled on pricing: Russia is demanding similar prices to those it gets on the European market, while China is eyeing a significant discount.
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