(WNYC Radio) In what looks a major deal that could change the energy landscape from Eastern Europe to Asia, Russia and China have come to terms on a major natural gas agreement. At an estimated price of over $400 billion, the deal ensures that a 30-year supply of gas will be sent from Siberia to China via a pipeline. The deal has been 10 years in the making and comes as Russia is looking for an alternate energy market with the threat of sanctions from Europe looming.
Kimberly Marten, a political science professor at Barnard College, Columbia University, weighs in on the deal and what it could mean for the West.
"We've been watching the negotiations on this take place over many, many years," says Marten. "It looks like what happened is that Russia caved on the price and was willing to meet the requirements that China had, which had been delaying the deal up until now."
Marten says that the deal was supposed to be originally signed last June at an international conference in St. Petersburg, but was put off because of negotiations around pricing. […]
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