“We continue consultations... If we agree on the ‘Western Route’, then it will be more than 80 billion cubic meters [for all supply routes, including LNG – Ed.] a year. This means that Russia will take the first place among gas suppliers to China,” Bekri told TASS.

China is seeking to increase gas purchases from Russia and a number of other countries, according to the State Committee for Development and Reforms. The Committee’s head He Lifeng said the reason...

Russian energy giant Gazprom’s CEO, Alexey Miller, said earlier that Russia and China have agreed to get approval for gas supplies via the ‘Western Route’ in the shortest possible time.

Demand for Russian gas supplies is increasing in China, and according to Miller, by 2035 it could reach 80 – 100 billion cubic meters a year.

Administration showed that the world’s second-biggest natural gas importer, China, will account for at least a quarter of all global natural gas consumption growth between 2015 and 2040.

Supplies via the ‘Eastern Route’ (the Power of Siberia) are expected to start by the end of next year. Initial volumes will stand at 5 billion cubic meters, reaching 38 billion cubic meters per year by 2024.

The 3,000-km (1,900-mile) pipeline will be longer than the distance between Moscow and London. The deal on the ‘Eastern Route’ took more than a decade to negotiate. In May 2014, Gazprom and CNPC signed a $400-billion, 30-year framework to deliver 38 billion cubic meters of Russian gas to China annually.

In 2017, Gazprom invested 158.8 billion rubles ($2.4 billion) in the project. This year it plans to invest another 218 billion rubles ($3.25 billion).

Russia’s Arctic region will also be a major source of gas supplies to China. At the moment, Russian gas producer Novatek is working (in cooperation with CNPC) on the implementation of Russian-led energy project Yamal LNG. China has already purchased the first two batches of liquefied natural gas from Yamal.