China, Russia launch massive joint gas pipeline

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Kozak, second right, and Russian Minister of Energy Alexander Novak, back to a camera attend a joint video conference with Chinese President Xi Jinping during inaugurating the Power of Siberia pipeline in the Bocharov Ruchei residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, Monday, Dec. 2, 2019. China and Russia launched Monday a more than 6,000 kilometer-long gas pipeline in one realization of the countries’ long-planned energy partnerships. (Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

BEIJING — China and Russia have launched a gas pipeline that is more than 6,000 kilometers (3,750 miles) long, an outcome of their long-planned energy partnership.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin inaugurated the pipeline — dubbed the “Power of Siberia” — through a joint video conference on Monday.

As Russia’s relationships with Europe and the United States grow more volatile, it is looking to bring its vast natural gas resources to the east.
China is the world’s largest energy consumer and needs new supply sources to meet its domestic demand.

The pipeline bolsters the nations’ ties while China is embroiled in a trade dispute with the U.S. It results from a 2014 deal worth $400 billion between Russian state energy giant Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corp.