BEIJING Nov 1 (Reuters) - Talks between China and Russia on a huge gas export deal are developing well, with only some specific issues mainly related to the price structure remaining to be resolved, a senior Chinese diplomat said on Tuesday.
"At the moment, relevant companies from both sides are having working-level discussions on the important consensus reached on the gas deal during (Russian Prime Minister Vladimir) Putin's visit," Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Cheng Guoping told a news briefing.
"Both sides are working hard. The gas cooperation issue is developing in the direction of reaching agreement," Cheng added. "As Prime Minister Putin said, the natural gas negotiations are in their final stages."
Putin said during a visit to Beijing last month that Russia and China were near a deal to supply the world's second biggest economy with up to 68 billion cubic metres of Russian gas a year over 30 years in what would be a landmark trade agreement between the long-wary neighbours.
An agreement on Russia's gas deliveries to China, the world's largest energy consumer according to the International Energy Agency, would boost Moscow's efforts to reduce its export dependency on the European market.
But Moscow and Beijing have haggled for five years over the commercial terms for any deal.
The firms involved in the talks are Gazprom , Russia's state-controlled gas export monopoly, and PetroChina , China's second-biggest refiner.
PetroChina Chairman Jiang Jiemin said last month that China and Russia had "basically agreed" on the route and technological issues for the western section of a cross-border natural gas pipeline project, but the two sides were still unable to agree on a price.
Premier Wen Jiabao will visit Russia next week to attend a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a security bloc grouping Russia, China and four ex-Soviet Central Asian states.
Cheng did not rule out gas deal discussions on the sidelines of the meeting.
