A question of priorities

摘要

The fact that Russia has been talking to China about the proposed Altai gas pipe line for almost a decade now shows how desperately Moscow wants this project. But the fact negotiations appear to be going nowhere suggests that China has little need for the line. When Altai—which would run from west Siberia to Russia’s western border with China—was proposed in 2005,Gazprom had no east Siberian fields,so backing a line that could sup ply China from west Siberia made sense.But even after Gazprom receive licences for the 1.2 trillion m3 Chayandinskoye field in 2007 and the 1.9 trillion m3Kovykta field in 2011— which are both in east Siberia and bet-ter placed geographically to supply China than fields in west Siberia—it kept pushing Altai.