17 Jun 2009 13:21

Gazprom: gas deliveries to China to begin after 2011

MOSCOW. June 17 (Interfax) - Russian gas deliveries to China will most likely begin after 2011, Gazprom Deputy CEO Alexander Ananenkov said at a press conference on Wednesday.

"Talks with China are being conducted, but the price hasn't been agreed yet," Ananenkov said, adding that the two sides do not expect pipeline gas deliveries to begin in 2011.

"The seller wants to sell high and the buyer wants to buy low. The work is moving forward, although it is no longer oriented on 2011, but a somewhat later date," he said.

The two sides signed a memorandum on deliveries of Russian gas to China in early 2006. That document called for agreeing the price of the deliveries by the end of 2006 after which design and construction of the Altai gas pipeline system would begin. The Russian side has said the deliveries will begin four years after the price is agreed. China was originally scheduled to receive the first deliveries of gas from fields in Western Siberia in 2011.

RTS$#&: GAZP