Robin Mills: Russia keeps gas options open despite Chinese deal | The National:
"On a map, Siberia looks quite close to China. It isn’t. A gas pipeline from East Siberia to Shanghai would run about 5,000 kilometres, almost as far as Alaska to New York or London to Dubai. But last Wednesday, Russia and China signed a gas export deal that has been a decade in the making.
Is this is a geopolitical master stroke that cements a Russo-Chinese alliance and undermines western attempts to isolate Russia over the Ukraine crisis? A move of desperation in conceding to Chinese demands? Or a straightforward commercial decision?
Russia has long been seeking to diversify its gas markets. The European market is lucrative and Russia’s existing gas export pipelines, long paid for, run west. But it is not sensible to rely solely on Europe – an anaemic economy, which is seeking both to find other gas suppliers, and to reduce its overall dependence on fossil fuels."
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