Russia, China and Korea sign agreement on pipeline study

Envoys from Russia, China and the republic of Korea have initialled a tripartite agreement. The agreement calls for the involvement of the Korean company KOGAS in the development of a feasibility study for the construction of a pipeline from the Kovyktinskoye gas condensate deposit in the Irkutsk region to China and Korea.
Joint development of the Kovyktinskoye deposit is also stipulated by the agreement. The feasibility study is expected to be finalised in 2001. The volume of gas supplies to China is anticipated at 20 bn cm and to Korea at 10 bn cm. There are plans to extract between 30 and 35 bn cm of gas at the Kovyktinskoye deposit annually.