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At a meeting in Moscow on September 18, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to supply gas to Hungary by extending the TurkStream gas pipeline to bypass Ukraine . At the end of next year, TurkStream is to reach the Greek-Turkish border. Orbán proposes the Russians build additional pipelines and connectors to send the gas 1,200 km north to Hungary. Orban said at a joint Kremlin press conference with Putin: “I asked Mr. President to seriously think about this possibility.” Putin responded: “I do not rule out that after the Turkish Stream is built, one of the land branches of this gas main could pass through Hungary.” Currently, most of Hungary’s imported gas passes through Ukraine.
The general secretary of the Communist Party of China and President Xi Jinping ordered to start coordination of gas supplies from Russia on the so-called Western Route during his visit to the Eastern Economic Forum and meeting with President Vladimir Putin, Vedomosti d aily said on September 12 citing the Minister of Energy Alexander Novak. The Western Route or Altai 2,600km pipeline is a possible addition to the currently constructed Power of Siberia (Sila Sibiri) pipeline of Russian gas giant Gazprom that enters China at the Eastern Russian border by the city of Vladivostok. Altai pipeline could run from West Siberia gas fields to North-West of China. The possible throughput of the pipeline could amount to 30bn cubic meters (bcm), according to Novak, as compared to 38bcm for the Power of Siberia that will become operational in December 2019. Currently China accounts for 19% of Gazprom exports and potential new pipeline could be a serious boost. However, in 2017 China and Russia reportedly failed to agree on Altai pipeline and delayed the signing of the supply contract indefinitely. Unconfirmed reports claimed that insufficient demand, disagreements over gas supplies price, and building of the pipeline were the main reasons for stalling the talks. Reportedly Gazprom was pushing for a high price for gas supplies to the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), justifying it by the high costs of building the Altai line.
The Chinese side, in turn, were said to be willing to set an open tender for the construction of the pipeline to make it cheaper and more transparent. This was reportedly met with a frosty response from the Russian gas pipeline exports monopolist that has been notoriously accused of using pipelines as way to benefit pro-Kremlin stoligarchs . The Western Route has been in the making since 2006 when mentioned first by Putin during his visit to China, with the first memorandum signed in 2014.
85 RUSSIA Country Report October 2018 www.intellinews.com