“Beijing and Moscow said they signed a much-anticipated contract to supply China with hundreds of billions of dollars worth of Russian natural gas following a decade of difficult talks.
Neither side released details about the price, long the major sticking point of a deal. The two sides in the past have announced supply deals but said a final price would be negotiated later.
Gazprom OGZPY -1.73% CEO Alexei Miller told Russian media that the two sides had signed a contract worth a total of $400 billion over its 30-year life. “This is Gazprom’s biggest contract. We don’t have a contract like this with any other company,” Mr. Miller told reporters in Shanghai, the Interfax news agency reported.
Russian news agencies said the contract called for supplies of 38 billion cubic meters of gas a year, which would imply a price of about $350 per thousand cubic meters, at the low end of what Gazprom currently charges export clients.
Mr. Miller said the price in the China deal “is a commercial secret,” Russian news agencies reported.
China’s official Xinhua news agency said documents related to the deal were signed in Shanghai by Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who had made the multibillion-dollar deal the top item of his two-day visit there.
China National Petroleum Corp. said Gazprom would be responsible for developing natural gas supplies in eastern Siberia, while CNPC would develop transport and storage facilities within China’s borders.
A deal would allow Gazprom to make a strategic shift toward Asia, just as the European Union is seeking to extricate itself from Moscow’s energy grip….”
If you enjoy the content at iBankCoin, please follow us on Twitter
