China considers Kazakhstan gas route from Russia too expensive, prefers Power of Siberia 2 or LNG - ambassador

MOSCOW. April 15 (Interfax) - The route for gas supplies from Russia to China through Kazakhstan may prove too expensive, with better alternatives being the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline or liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies, Chinese Ambassador to Russia Zhang Hanhui told journalists.

"Gas supplies from Russia through Kazakhstan aren't feasible, because there's only one pipeline there and it's already overloaded. Transporting Russian gas via this route would require building a new one [a pipeline]. This would be rather expensive. The Russian side is studying it, but it's unrealistic. Essentially it won't work out. The better options are through Mongolia or LNG," he said.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak previously said that a project for supplying gas from Russia to China through Kazakhstan with a capacity of 35 billion cubic meters of gas per year was being studied.