BEIJING (Dow Jones)--OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS) is seeking a price "considerably higher" than China National Petroleum Corp. is willing to pay for 68 billion cubic meters of Russian natural gas due to be delivered to China annually after 2010, a senior Gazprom official said Thursday.
The slow-moving talks have held up the development of Russian gas fields that would provide the gas for export to China, said Alexey Mastepanov, councilor of the deputy chairman of the board at Gazprom.
However, the Russian gas export monopoly isn't only negotiating with CNPC on securing market prices for supplies, but is also examining opportunities to enter the Chinese gas sector as a partner, Mastepanov said.
He declined to comment on specific prices being discussed by Gazprom and CNPC for the supplies via two separate pipelines in the east and west, or the nature of Russia's interest in the domestic Chinese market.
His comments come after Vladimir Saenko, deputy director to the state energy policy department of Russia's Ministry of Industry and Energy, said China's improving gas supply picture was leading it to play hardball in the gas talks with Gazprom.
China wouldn't need Russian gas until at least 2010, and possibly 2012, Saenko said, mirroring the view of other industry experts.
CNPC and rival China Petrochemical Corp. have made a number of major gas discoveries in the past two years. CNPC unit PetroChina Co. (PTR) is evaluating reserves at the Longgang gas field in Sichuan province, possibly the country's largest gas field.