China's largest oil and gas company CNPC and Russian gas giant
Gazprom have reported a major progress in their natural gas
negotiations, Gazpom's deputy chairman Alexander Medvedev said on
Saturday.
The negotiation, which touched on rising prices of crude oil and
gas pipes on the international market, was constructive but the two
sides hadn't agreed on specific prices, said Medvedev.
However, big progress was made in the negotiation, which paved
the way for a future agreement on specific prices, he said.
"I believe we will finally get a result that is acceptable to
both sides."
Medvedev said earlier in the day that the negotiation on Russian
gas prices would not be influenced by the low prices at which China
had imported natural gas.
CNPC and Gazprom entered into a strategic partnership in October
2004. The two companies signed a deal in march 2006 to export
natural gas to China. Under the deal, Russia will pipe 68 billion
cubic meters of natural gas to China each year by 2020.
(China Daily via Xinhua News Agency November 19,
2007)
