China's largest oil and gas company CNPC and Russian gas giant Gazprom have reported a major progress in their natural gas negotiations, Gazpom's deputy chairman Alexander Medvedev said on Saturday.

The negotiation, which touched on rising prices of crude oil and gas pipes on the international market, was constructive but the two sides hadn't agreed on specific prices, said Medvedev.

However, big progress was made in the negotiation, which paved the way for a future agreement on specific prices, he said.

"I believe we will finally get a result that is acceptable to both sides."

Medvedev said earlier in the day that the negotiation on Russian gas prices would not be influenced by the low prices at which China had imported natural gas.

CNPC and Gazprom entered into a strategic partnership in October 2004. The two companies signed a deal in march 2006 to export natural gas to China. Under the deal, Russia will pipe 68 billion cubic meters of natural gas to China each year by 2020.

(China Daily via Xinhua News Agency November 19, 2007)