India wants to receive Russian gas through China - media

Click banner for more info

India intends to hold negotiations, concerning the extension of a gas pipeline from Russia through China to the Indian border, Indian newspaper Financial Express says, citing the source. The issue may be discussed during BRICS summit in July.

The negotiations may be continued during the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin in India, in the end of the year. India's Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan has already discussed the issue with his Russian colleague Aleksandr Novak during the most recent World Petroleum Congress in Moscow, Financial Express says. Russia hasn't commented on the issue yet.

India wants to receive Russian gas through the Chinese region of Xinjiang in the west of China. In May, Russian Open Joint Stock Company Gazprom signed a contract with Chinese company CNPC that stipulated the supply of up to 38 billion cubic meters of gas per year via the pipeline Power of Siberia. The pipeline goes from the Russian city of Irkutsk through the city of Blagoveshchensk and ends in the east of China, far from the Chinese region of Xinjiang.

Head of Gazprom Aleksey Miller has promised that Russia would discuss the western pipeline plan immediately, after it finishes the negotiations over the eastern pipeline plan. Earlier, Russia discussed not only the eastern Power of Siberia route, but the western Altay as well that would end in western China, in the region of Xinjiang. However, last year, the sides decided to postpone the negotiations over the Altay pipeline till the discussions on Power of Siberia pipeline are finished.

India is likely to become the second gas consumer after China in the Pacific Rim to 2035, the International Energy Agency (IEA) says. Both countries are facing ecological problems; that's why they would increase their consumption of gas as the latter is more ecologically beneficial resource than oil or coal. At the moment, the total consumption of gas in India amounts to eight percent; however, the rate will increase to 2035.

Beginning from 2017, India will be receiving gas via the Trans-Afghanistan pipeline. India is also thinking about receiving Russian gas via the Trans-Afghanistan pipeline as an alternative to the Altay pipeline, Financial Express says.

Turkmenistan has already been supplying gas to China, being Russia's main competitor. This fact was one of the reasons, why Russia postponed the negotiations over the Altay pipeline project.
Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_06_24/India-wants-to-receive-Russian-gas-through-China-media-9180/