China will take all gas Russia can supply - Shmatko (repeat)
Shanghai. October 12. INTERFAX-CHINA - China will accept all the gas that Russia can supply it, Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko said at a meeting to a draft a framework for the development of Russia's gas industry up to 2030.
"We are proceeding on the basis that China will take any amount of gas that we are able to send there," Shmatko said.
Experts estimate gas consumption in China has increased by 8.5 percent on an annual basis over the last nine years, and that China will need 200 billion cubic meters of gas per year by 2015. From 2018 to 2020 the pace of consumption will start to drop, but demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) will be on the upswing.
At the end of September, Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) inked a document titled "Expanding the main conditions for delivering natural gas from Russia to China." This document is legally binding and covers key commercial aspects of shipments of Russian gas to the Chinese market, including volumes and timeframe, level of take or pay during the period in which shipments are growing, and level of payment guarantees.
The signing of an export contract is expected mid-2011, and shipments are slated to begin end-2015. This will be a 30-year contract for annual delivery of 30 billion cubic meters.