What It’s All About: Russia, China Begin Construction Of World’s Largest Gas Pipeline

Putin in Siberia_0

What It’s All About: Russia, China Begin Construction Of World’s Largest Gas Pipeline (ZeroHedge, Sep 1, 2014):

If after months of Eurasian axis formation, one still hasn’t realized why in the grand game over Ukraine supremacy – not to mention superpower geopolitics – Europe, and the West, has zero leverage, while Russia has all the trump cards, then today’s latest development in Chinese-Russian cooperation should make it abundantly clear.

Overnight, following a grand ceremony in the Siberian city of Yakutsk, Russia and China officially began the construction of a new gas pipeline linking the countries. The bottom line to Russia – nearly half a trillion after China’s CNPC agreed to buy $400bn in gas from Russia’s Gazprom back in May. In return, Russia will ship 38 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas annually over a period of 30 years. The 3,968 km pipeline linking gas fields in eastern Siberia to China will be the world’s largest fuel network in the world.

As BBC reports, “the deal will lessen Russia’s dependence on European buyers, who have imposed economic sanctions because of the crisis in Ukraine.” That is not news and has been known for months ever since the long-anticipated Holy Grail deal was signed in May. More importantly, as Zero Hedge reported last week, one awaits as the invoices become increasingly less denominated in USD, and more in CNY or RUB. Most importantly, and confirming the significance of Russia’s pivot away from Europe, which ultimately can have Qatar’s gas it so very desires, irrelevant how many thousands of innocent people have to die, the construction ceremony was attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese Vice-Premier Zhang Gaoli.

China will start work on the construction of its side of the pipeline in the first half of 2015, Mr Zhang said.

The first gas will be pumped from Siberia to north-east China in early 2019.

Over the past 10 years, China has used other gas suppliers. Turkmenistan is now China’s largest foreign gas supplier. Last year, it started importing piped natural gas from Myanmar.

Increasingly it appears that China will defer to Russia when it comes to cementing bilateral commodity deals, especially if it means further distancing both sides from what has emerged as a natural foe to both aspirational nations: the United States.

Here is what Putin had to say about the latest gas pipeline, soon to be the world’s largest, during the groundbreaking ceremony outside the city of Yakutsh, via RT: “The new gas branch will significantly strengthen the economic cooperation with countries in the Asia-Pacific region and above all – our key partner China.”

Once we create a gas pipeline network here in the Far East and Siberia, we will be able to connect European pipeline system to the East. And this, in terms of export opportunities and expanding Russia’s ‘gasification’, is very beneficial. Depending on the situation in world markets, we can more effectively implement gas flows- either more to the West or to the East,” Putin told students at North-Eastern Federal University earlier on Monday.

russia gaz map

More:

 Both President Putin and Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli signed the freshly-welded pipeline in a time-honored Russian tradition. The ‘Power of Siberia’ was welded together by workers from Chayanda gas field, overseen by CEO Aleksey Miller.

“Gazprom is always a reliable supplier of gas to its customers – which also applies to the ‘Power of Siberia,” Miller said.

The 3,968 km pipeline linking gas fields in eastern Siberia to China will be the world’s largest fuel network in the world. Both Putin and Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli have called the project the world’s largest construction project, as investment from both countries will be more than $70 billion.

“The gas pipeline ‘Power of Siberia’ will increase energy security and ensure Russia’s ability to fulfill export obligations,” Putin said in the opening remarks.

Starting in 2019, Power of Siberia will pump gas from Siberia to China’s populous northeast region as well as to Russia’s Far East. The Chinese side will start the construction of its part of the pipeline in the first half of 2015, the Vice Premier of China said.

Last year, China consumed about 170 billion cubic meters of natural gas and expects to consume 420 billion cubic meters per year by 2020. Europe still remains Russia’s largest energy market, buying more than 160 billion meters of Russian natural gas in 2013.

So while the west is no longer able to find any growth opportunities, with the marginal free cash flow dollar increasingly going in stock buybacks, Russia has no such problems: running from the Chayanda gas field in the Republic of Yakutia, the cost of construction is estimated at more than $20 billion (770 billion rubles), which includes other investment in the region of $7.5 billion (283 billion rubles). Russia’s largest steel pipeline manufacturer, TMK, will provide materials for the project.

The gas pipeline will become a common transit center for gas production centers in the Yakutia and Irkutsk regions.

The first stage of the project will be to transport gas from the Chayanda deposit in Yakutia and connect to the town of Blagoveshchensk on the Chinese border. The 968 km pipeline should be completed by 2018.

The Chayanda field, which will begin production in 2015, is estimated to have reserves of 1.2 trillion cubic meters in gas and 93 million tons of liquid hydrocarbons. Each year the field is expected to produce up to 25 billion cubic meters of gas and at least 1.5 million tons of oil.

Putin also said that China can become a shareholder in the Vankor oil and gas fields in the Krasnoyarsk region in Eastern Siberia. China will enter into a strategic relationship with Rosneft, Russia’s largest oil company, which owns the field.

But, Obama keeps repeating Russia is isolated by the entire world… Is he once again simply, gasp, lying?

To summarize all of the above: while Europe will continue to depend on Russia for its gas imports indefinitely, Russia will no longer depend on Europe for its experts.

Finally, a video of today’s festivities if only for Russia, not so much the countries which are “isolating” it…

xi-jinping-vladimir-putin

5 thoughts on “What It’s All About: Russia, China Begin Construction Of World’s Largest Gas Pipeline”

  1. Leaving the US behind.
    This is today and tomorrow.
    The US has been gutted of its wealth by the Vandals Within as Lincoln called them.
    If there are history or government classes ever taught in universities again; what happened to the US is good material.
    The Death of a Nation.
    When I was young, the voter had a lot of power.
    Instead of paying attention, he could not bother to pay mind to the political actions of the day, and didn’t vote.
    Evil people got into power, and by the time the voter realized what happened, it was too late.
    His vote had no teeth, he had no say, and criminals were running his nation over a cliff.
    The US is over the cliff, and now, all that is left is the fall.
    The voter has no power, no voice and no rights.
    When I was young “The Pentagon Papers” was on every bookshelf in the grocery line.
    Today, Snowden literally runs for his life.
    Tell the truth, and you die.
    The US founders were fools to establish a republic.
    Rome’s example ought to have warned them.
    They didn’t listen, and they didn’t care.
    Now, it is too late, and the republic is as dead as Rome’s republic.
    The US is finished.
    US media tells them all is good………
    Lies and more lies.

    Reply
  2. To friend Squodgy:
    It is very obvious to those of us who look, listen and pay attention…….the mass majority listens to the lies and propaganda on US media. They would rather laugh at a Chris Cristie than pay mind to what is being done to what remains of the US republic.
    Most of them see it as a “democracy”…….a concept that never existed outside the pages of a history book………they think their vote matters. Will they look up the voting records of this week’s darling…….? No. That would take work.
    A nation of fools and bums. I cannot believe how fast the US is falling.
    I wonder who they will blame when the dollar collapses…….
    All I can say is something told me long ago; “cannibals elect cannibal kings.”

    Reply
  3. Marilyn, your frustration is understandable. We have both seen a gradual reduction in the standards of everything we can think of, but mainly as a result of natural inquisitiveness, people like Alex Jones and David Icke & even Ron Paul are waking many up to the truth, or at least to question what crap we are fed by the zionist mainstream..

    There is another agenda, most of which leans towards the unimaginable.
    Icke was vilified for his belief in the conception of other powers he called lizard shapeshifters.

    We are mere mortals, but nobody has really tried to embrace the concept that 65million years ago lizards ruled the world. We are told they were wiped out.

    But I ask, were all of them wiped out….over the entire planet? Has anybody verified the position of the Yukatan 65 million years ago in relation to Pangaea?
    Mankind theoretically developed from apes, but what if the original lizard theoretical Yukatan Chicxulub wipe-out wasn’t total? Can anyone be 100% certain?

    Think back to the sheer genius of the Pyramids, totally beyond the capabilities of the indigenous human population….something isn’t right, look at the heiroglyphs, and the Nazca plates and many other mysterious constructions. Why do we think we are the be all and end all?

    Is it too daft to think that 64 million years is long enough for the remnants of a species to progress and develop into a super species, outside the spectrum of the predominant dopy mammals?

    Obviously not when one considers man’s progress in a mere half million years.

    Far be it for me to claim to know the answers, but the logic doesn’t follow the popular explanations for many things….religion included. The “son” of god is in our sky.

    Reply
  4. To Friend Squodgy:
    People like Alex Jones and Ron Paul are voices in the wilderness. If they had any power, they would die, as did many good journalists, or be running for their lives like Ed Snowden. Ron Paul’s voting record would show he campaigns for his son, not for this nation…….I doubt any of these people will cause change.
    Have you not noticed when a particularly bad law is being passed that one or two from both sold out parties will speak out against it? It is easy to speak when you know it will pass regardless.
    Your idea about lizards ruling the world I will pass over because I know nothing about it. I held little ones in my hand, was very surprised to find them warm blooded as a child. My father taught me about lizards and snakes, not to fear them, but recognize them as part of the world.
    As for the Pyramids, I have a theory I will pass to you. I worked with engineers most of my life. More often than I can recall, an engineer (the word taken from the word ingenious) would come to us with an invention that was wonderful………only to find someone across the world had come up with the same idea. Neither knew each other, it just worked out that way.
    I have grown to believe ideas come to us on a cosmic clothesline, we pull one down and run with it. That is the only explanation I can come with……there was no way the idea was stolen from someone across the world. It is part of human progress.
    When I first stood in front of a pyramid, I was in awe. I could not even slide a business card between two pieces of carved stone…….the engineering was amazing. Even today, we could not build such marvels.
    The code for Hieroglyphs was discovered by Napoleon’s scientists that he took with him in his invasion of Egypt. It is best known as the Rosetta Stone, which is the property of the British Empire today.
    Hieroglyphs were rooted in ancient Greek. A Frenchman with a wonderful name that eludes me for the moment was able to make the connection and break the code. Thanks to him, we can decipher Hieroglyphs.
    When a friend of mine was allowed inside the great pyramids in Egypt, he told me they had to have a different form of lighting……there was no way there would be enough oxygen for people to work inside or for lamps to burn.
    I think man has made great progress before, just like now, and has lost it. The ancient Romans had hot and cold running water, concrete, the arch………most of these were not recovered in the west for two thousand years. They managed to hang on to some of their great science in the east until Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain went after all scientists as people practicing witchcraft. Some ran to the new world, many others died.
    One of the worst things the Catholic Church did was to go after science as an evil……and the Spanish empire was the puppet of the church.
    We don’t need people from other planets or magical lizards……we need more of our own history……most of which is lost through the waste and travail of time.

    Reply

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