Power of Siberia back on track after Putin rubber-stamps $55bn eastern pipeline

The 4,000km Power of Siberia pipeline is back  on schedule to deliver its first supplies of gas to China three years from now after President Putin finally signed off on the project last Friday. The presidential seal of approval has dispelled concerns that the project’s $55bn price tag would see it being shelved in favour of an extension to the existing Altai pipeline, and  comes almost exactly twelve months after Putin signed a deal with President Xi Jinping to supply China with 38bn m³ of gas every year  from 2018 onwards. The decree which President Putin signed last week confirms that the cross-border section of the pipe line will run from Blagoveshchensk  to Heihe and that all equipment imported into Russia or China for its construction will be exempt from VAT and customs duties.