Sco Energy Club to Become Leader in Eurasia – Russian Expert

MOSCOW. July 3 (Interfax) – The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) energy club coulf gain a leading position on the Eurasian energy market, Russian Gas Society President Valery Yazev said in the TV program Moscow-Beijing on Thursday.

“SCO is a young organization with a great development potential,” he said. Energy cooperation will gain the most important place within the organization in the future, he said.

The SCO energy club will develop because it includes major energy producers and consumers, he said.

The SCO member states participate in a range of joint energy projects: “The Caspian gas pipeline, the Altai gas pipeline, the East-West gas pipeline, the Kazakhstan-China gas pipeline, the ESPO oil pipeline with a branch leading to China, he said.

It is necessary to take into account that the SCO energy club is being formed under the conditions of globalization, and many SCO countries participate in other international organizations. “It will be necessary to use the best scheme for a common Asian gas network” supplying energy to the whole territory of Eurasia, he said.

Asked about the talks on gas supplies from Russia to China, Yazev said that the talks had not concluded. The price for gas supplied via the Altai gas pipeline to China will be $10-15 higher than the European price, he said.

“The gas price talks have not concluded, currently the issue of gas supply to China through the Altai gas pipeline is under discussion. That price will be a bit higher than at the border with Europe,” he said.

The expert explained the higher gas price for China by the fact that “the transport route from the north of the Tyumen region to the Chinese border is longer than the distance to the Ukrainian border, and so the price there will probably rise by extra $10-15 against the European price,” he said.

By 2020, Russia will supply 68 billion cubic meters of gas annually, Yazev said.

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