Gazprom, China to agree on gas supply price in June - Zubkov
MOSCOW. March 27 (Interfax) - Victor Zubkov, the chairman of Gazprom's board of directors, has confirmed the conviction previously voiced by the company's management that a decision on Russian gas supplies to China via the eastern route could be made in June.
"I think the price will finally be determined sometime in June, and after that, all the documents regarding the supplies - quantities and the agreed-upon price - will be signed by the end of the year," Zubkov said on the television channel Rossiya 24.
Zubkov, who is also the general director of Gazprom Gazmotornoye Toplivo (Gazprom Gas Motor Fuel), said that the company is looking into creating gas motor fuel joint ventures with China and Vietnam.
As reported, Russia and China are discussing the delivery of 38 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas a year via the eastern route from the Vladivostok region to northeastern China. Russia has not ruled out that the supplies could be even higher, at up to 60 bcm a year. The two countries are planning to sign a 30-year contract and are talking about a partial advance payment from China for fuel supplies.
