Staff members inspect the gas-distributing and compressing station of the China-Russia east-route natural gas pipeline in the city of Heihe, the first stop after the Russia-supplied natural gas enters China, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Nov. 19, 2019. The China-Russia east-route natural gas pipeline was put into operation on Monday. The pipeline is scheduled to provide China with 5 billion cubic meters of Russian gas in 2020 and the amount is expected to increase to 38 billion cubic meters annually from 2024, under a 30-year contract worth 400 billion U.S. dollars signed between the China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) and Russian gas giant Gazprom in May 2014. The cross-border gas pipeline has a 3,000-km section in Russia and a 5,111-km stretch in China. (Xinhua/Wang Jianwei)

 
A new natural gas pipeline running from West Siberia to China is under discussion, as one pipeline system is far from satisfying China's rapid energy needs, Alexey Miller, CEO of the Gazprom management committee, told the Global Times in an interview.

Gazprom has huge natural gas reserves and therefore cooperation between the two countries in natural gas will last many years, "even to the 22nd century," he said.

Miller made the comments as the China-Russia east route natural gas pipeline - Power of Siberia - was launched on Monday.

Stretching from Russia's Siberia to China's Yangtze River Delta, the pipeline covers a total length of 8,000 kilometers, and 5,111 kilometers within Chinese borders. It is the longest natural gas pipeline in the world today.

For the project, Gazprom hired about 10,000 workers, used 4,500 pieces of equipment and laid 130,000 pipes with a total weight topping 1.8 million tons. And they completed the project ahead of schedule according to Miller.

China National Petroleum Corp's (CNPC) pipeline branch is responsible for the construction and management of the project within China's borders. Miller praised CNPC as a reliable partner. "Our cooperation with CNPC is strategic," he said, noting that he also hopes to cooperate with other Chinese enterprises.

China and Russia have made progress in infrastructure projects in recent years. Apart from the new Power of Siberia pipeline, the already used China-Russia crude oil pipeline, the construction of two bridges between China and Russia will be soon completed - China-Russia Tongjiang Railway Bridge and a cross-border highway bridge, Miller said.

"In the near future, economic cooperation between China and Russia will grow rapidly in both scale and speed. The bilateral economic and trade cooperation will undoubtedly see further development," he added.

Global Times