The Altai gas pipeline is a proposed 2,800 km long natural gas pipeline, which is considered to connect Russian natural gas deposits in Nadym and Urengoy in Western Siberia with the Xinjiang region in Western China, where it will be linked to the West-East Gas Pipeline. The memorandum on deliveries of Russian natural gas to China was signed by Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller and CNPC CEO Chen Geng during Russian president Vladimir Putin's visit to China in March 2006.

The designed capacity of the pipeline is 30 billion cubic meters (bcm) natural gas annually and the total costs of the whole project is expected to be up to 14 billion USD. The pipeline expected to become operational in 2011, although there are some doubts that the real date would be 3-4 years later. The pipeline will be built and operated by TomskTransGaz, the subsidiary of Gazprom.

The pipeline project is criticized by environmental organizations, because it's planned to run across the Ukok Plateau, which is the natural habitat of the snow leopard and other endangered species.

External links

• Natural Gas in Exchange for Time, by Kommersant 16 September 2006