Pipeliners

BEIJING, September 21 (RIA Novosti, Alexei Yefimov) - Russian natural gas monopoly Gazprom is considering building two possible pipelines to eastern and western China, the head of the company's export subsidiary Gazpromexport said Wednesday. "Gazprom is considering both options and the issue of priorities has not yet been decided," Alexander Medvedev said at a press conference in the Chinese capital. The eastern pipeline would be built from the Maritime Territory in the Russian Far East. The western pipeline would cross the Chinese border from the Russian region of Altai. "The eastern and western projects are being closely analyzed by Chinese and Russian experts," he said. A decision on the construction of the pipelines could be made after the Federal Program for the Development of the Far East and Eastern Siberian has been approved, most likely by year's end, Medvedev said.