Altai pipeline agreement: President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping have signed a memorandum of understanding for the development of the western gas supply route from Russia to China – the Altai pipeline that will deliver 30 bn m³ of natural gas from the Nadym and Urengoy fields in Western Siberia to north western China. The agreement paves the way for a contract that would make China the biggest consumer of Russian gas – and will almost double the supplies already contracted to be delivered by the more eastern Power of Siberian pipeline that the two countries agreed in May. Tatar Inform