As Putin looks east, China and Russia sign $400-bi
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SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China and Russia signed a $400-billion gas supply deal on Wednesday, securing the world’s top energy user a major source of cleaner fuel and opening up a new market for Moscow as it risks losing European customers over the Ukraine crisis.
The long-awaited agreement is a political triumph for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is courting partners in Asia as those in Europe and the United States seek to isolate him over Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula.
Commercially, much depends on the price and other terms of the contract, which has been more than a decade in the making.
China had the upper hand as talks entered the home stretch, aware of Putin’s face-off with the West.
But both sides could take positives from a deal that will directly link Russia’s huge gas fields to Asia’s booming market for the first time - via thousands of miles of new pipeline across Siberia that form part of the package.
“This is the biggest contract in the history of the gas sector of the former USSR,” said Putin, after the agreement was signed in Shanghai between state-controlled entities Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC).
“Our Chinese friends are difficult, hard negotiators,” he said, noting that talks went on until 4 a.m.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-russ...7K20140521
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Russia’s New Gas Pipeline to Germany Delivers More Power to Moscow
Foreign-policy hawks worried that the new Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany would increase Moscow’s leverage over Europe. The first weeks after the pipeline’s completion are doing little to dispel their concerns.
In Europe, spot gas prices are at all-time highs and inventories are uncomfortably low. Fears are growing that a cold winter will force the region into a bidding war with Asia for liquefied natural gas shipments to keep lights and heaters on, and eyes are on Moscow to help out.
Gazprom, the state-controlled Russian gas producer, is Europe’s biggest supplier of the commodity. On Tuesday, the International Energy Association said Moscow could do more to ease Europe’s gas shortage, and that it was “an opportunity for Russia to underscore its credentials as a reliable supplier to the European market.”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/russias-new-gas-...1632311066