China has started pipeline construction in May to receive Russian gas from the Power of Siberia pipeline, Russian state gas company Gazprom said on Tuesday.
Russia and China clinched a $400 billion gas deal in 2014, which requires construction of the pipeline. It requires $55 billion in investment for the Russian part only, including bringing new gas fields on stream.
China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), Gazprom's partner on the project, said its pipeline company had signed an agreement with CNPC's pipeline project team on building a portion of the Russia-China eastern gas pipeline starting from Heihe on the border and running to Changling in Northeast China's Jilin Province.
The Power of Siberia pipeline should deliver 38 billion cubic metres of gas per year to China over 30 years, with first deliveries scheduled for 2019.
