Russia will postpone the construction of a massive pipeline to China which was expected to pump out up to 40 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year and eventually serve the Yangtze River and Pearl River deltas.

The decision was made because the 500-kilometer Altaic Pipeline, part of a western section of a Sino-Russia gas project, is facing a series of "complicated problems" in climate, geography and environment, according to Russia's Natural Gas Industry Development Guideline.

Also, Russia's natural gas was losing its edge in the Chinese market compared to cheaper resources from countries such as Turkmenistan, according to the guideline.

The US$4-billion pipeline was due to start construction this year and go into operation in 2011, the report said.

The line, invested in by Russia's biggest natural-gas supplier Gasprom, is part of the 2,700-kilometer western line that was designed to run from Russia's Yamal-Nenets, Khanty-Mansi, and the regions of Tomsk, New West Siberia, and Altayskiy Kray to northwestern China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The line was designed to meet in Xinjiang with China's west-to-east natural-gas pipeline, a gigantic facility that will reach Shanghai and Guangdong Province.

(Shanghai Daily October 8, 2008)