Russian gas monopoly Gazprom has started building the West Siberia-China pipeline, which will supply China with up to 30 billion cubic metres of gas a year, a news agency reported on Monday.
Itar-Tass news agency quoted a regional government official as saying Gazprom's subsidiary, GidroSpetsGaz, had started engineering and exploration works on a 500 km (310 miles) pipeline in Altai region. The pipeline link is part of Gazprom's $11 billion project to lay two gas pipelines to supply China with 60-80 billion cubic metres of natural gas a year.
A memorandum about gas supplies was signed between Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), parent of listed PetroChina, in March, shortly after the heads of the two states released a joint statement supporting investment in each country's energy sector. The first pipeline will carry gas from Russian western Siberian fields to join China's internal west-east pipeline.
The other link, which will head to the country's northeast region, will carry gas from Sakhalin Island and maybe Kovykta field in East Siberia. The pipelines are due to come on stream in 2011.
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