Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the construction of the first part of Gazprom's Power of Siberia pipeline.
The 3,968 km pipeline will deliver gas to the Far East and China from the gas field in the Republic of Yakutia.
With total investment of more than $55 billion, it will deliver 38 billion cubic meters of gas annually to China over 30 years.
"There will be nothing similar in the world in this area (energy construction) in the near future," Putin told a Chinese delegation and a group of Gazprom workers. "Once we create a gas pipeline network here in the Far East and Siberia, we will be able to connect a European pipeline system to the East. And this, in terms of export opportunities and expanding Russia's 'gasification', is very beneficial. Depend-ing on the situation in world markets, we can more effectively implement gas flows - either more to the West or to the East," Putin said.
In May, Russia's Gazprom signed a 30-year gas deal with China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) valued at $400 billion. The Russian government has plans afoot to connect the country’s gas network into a single structure of pipelines, so it will be possible to quickly change direction and redistribute energy without depending on the world situation.