Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
Russia’s gas giant<br />
Gazprom CEO,<br />
Alexei Miller,<br />
Russian President<br />
Vladimir Putin<br />
and Vice Premier<br />
of the People’s<br />
Republic of<br />
China Zhang<br />
Gaoli attending<br />
the ceremony<br />
marking the<br />
welding of the<br />
first link of “The<br />
Power of Siberia”<br />
main gas pipeline.<br />
ROMAN RUKOMEDA<br />
134<br />
cal for China. The main role of new<br />
gas contract, which is extremely important<br />
for Vladimir Putin, is to open<br />
the access to Russia’s resources deposits<br />
and new technologies mostly<br />
in the military sphere. By relatively<br />
not expensive price (about 25 billions<br />
of dollars as loans for Russia on<br />
the pipeline construction which will<br />
be returned by gas export) Beijing is<br />
getting the access and can become<br />
the side in exploiting the Siberian<br />
oil and gas fields. Moreover, Russia<br />
opened the gate for China to enter<br />
the Arctic projects for oil and gas<br />
production.<br />
One more important point. The gas<br />
for the new pipeline to China was<br />
supposed to be produced on gas<br />
fields of Kovykta and Chayanda. But<br />
because of international sanctions<br />
of Russia the development of these<br />
fields will be delayed as Russia does<br />
not produce all necessary equipment<br />
for the gas production itself.<br />
It is also possible to add that new<br />
gas pipeline to China brings many<br />
other risks to Russia. One of them is<br />
technological as Russia is falling in<br />
deep international isolation without<br />
the possibility to break import technological<br />
dependence, especially in<br />
energy sphere. So the only possible<br />
substitution for Moscow could be<br />
more tight technological cooperation<br />
with Beijing in oil and gas production<br />
on Russian fields that bears<br />
additional political risks. They can<br />
lead to the situation when big groups<br />
of Chinese workers will come to exploit<br />
Russian Siberia which will be<br />
the start of open Chinese expansion<br />
on the current Russian territories.<br />
Besides, delivering to Beijing new<br />
military technologies Moscow will<br />
find the situation that China can one
Change language