Altai gas pipeline

The Power of Siberia 2 (also known as Altai gas pipeline) is a proposed natural gas pipeline to export natural gas from Russia's Western Siberia Altai region to North-Eastern China.

History
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 project was put on hold due to disagreements over natural gas price and competition from other gas sources in the Chinese market.

In 2013, Gazprom and CNPC agreed to instead pursue a more eastern route, the Power of Siberia gas pipeline. In 2014, the project was resumed during the APEC summit. In 2015, the project was "postponed for an indefinite period of time".

Gazprom and the Mongolian Government discussed details of a feasibility study for the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline project in October 2021. In 2022, Mongolia’s Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai announced that the feasibility study has been completed, and that the construction of the pipeline will commence in 2024, and will connect the Siberian gas fields to China via Mongolia.

Route
The 2800 km pipeline would start from the Purpeyskaya compressor station of the existing Urengoy–Surgut–Chelyabinsk pipeline. It would carry natural gas from the Nadym and Urengoy fields in Western Siberia. The total length of the Russian section would be 2666 km, including 205 km in Yamalo-Nenets autonomous region, 325 km in Khanty–Mansi autonomous region, 879 km in Tomsk Oblast, 244 km in Novosibirsk Oblast, 422 km in Altai Krai, and 591 km in the Altai Republic. The terminal point in the Russian territory is the Kanas mountain pass. A large part of the pipeline will be built within the technical corridor of existing pipelines, such as the Urengoy—Surgut—Chelyabinsk, Northern Tyumen–Surgut—Omsk, Nizhnevartovsk gas refinery – Parabel, Parabel—Kuzbass, Novosibirsk—Kuzbass, Novosibirsk—Barnaul, and Barnaul—Biysk pipelines. In China, the pipeline would be terminated in the Xinjiang region, where it will be linked to the West–East Gas Pipeline.

Alternatively, an eastern route through Mongolia is being studied.

Technical description
The diameter of the pipeline would be 1420 mm. The designed capacity of the pipeline would be 30 billion cubic meters (bcm) natural gas annually and the total costs of the whole project is expected to be up to US$14 billion. The pipeline was originally expected to become operational in 2011. The pipeline will be built and operated by TomskTransGaz, the subsidiary of Gazprom.

Controversy
The pipeline project has been criticized by environmental organizations because it was planned to run across the Ukok Plateau, which is the natural habitat of the snow leopard and other endangered species. Additionally, Altai leaders feared that construction of the pipeline and accompanying technical highway will pave the way for a Chinese expansion into Altai. The pipeline route impacts burial sites and shrines in the region. A price precedent for the Power of Siberia 2 has already been established by the Power of Siberia which is lower than the prices of Central Asian countries and China is the monopsonist buyer.