MOSCOW: Russia and China were discussing a new route for supply of up to 35 billion cubic metres a year of Russian gas via Kazakhstan, TASS quoted Russian deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak on Friday.

The possibility of the route was first disclosed by Kazakhstan in May.

Moscow has been in painstaking talks with Beijing for years over gas exports, including via the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline designed to run via Mongolia, while experts say China will not need additional natural gas until after 2030.