Russia reached a $400 billion deal to supply natural gas to China through a new pipeline over 30 years, a milestone in relations between the world’s largest energy producer and the biggest consumer.

President Vladimir Putin is turning to China to bolster Russia’s economy as relations sour with the U.S. and European Union because of the crisis in Ukraine. Today’s accord, signed after more than a decade of talks, will allow state-run gas producer OAO Gazprom (GAZP) to invest $55 billion developing giant gas fields in eastern Siberia and building the pipeline, Putin said.

It’s an “epochal event,” Putin said in Shanghai after the contract was signed. Both countries are satisfied with the price, he said.

Gazprom Chief Executive Officer Alexey Miller signed the deal with Zhou Jiping, chairman of China National Petroleum Corp. The agreement is for 38 billion cubic meters of gas annually over 30 years, Miller said. While he declined to give a price, he said the total value would be about $400 billion.

“This is the largest ever contract for Gazprom,” Miller said, adding the deal was clinched at 4 a.m. Supplies will start in four to six years, he said.

Gazprom shares rose as much as 2.2 percent, to 148.55 rubles in Moscow today and traded at 147.04 rubles at 4:04 p.m. local time.

David Fuller's view

I do not think that Putin would have gone to China, with some fanfare, if he did not know that a deal was imminent.  Nevertheless, the last minute agreement, particularly after financial news services were initially saying this morning that discussions had failed, suggests to me that Putin had to give ground to the Chinese. 

Russia has gas, oil and weaponry but that is a narrow economic base for a country aspiring to be a global leader.  More importantly, the energy cartels are gradually losing power, not least because many countries now have the capacity, if not quite the will and know how, to produce their own natural gas by fracking.  Additionally, solar power and most other forms of renewable energy can only grow in importance as the advance of technology improves their output and efficiency. 

What about Gazprom?  The share has languished in recent years (weekly & daily), as you can see from this London listed ADR quoted in USD.  However, it anticipated the China deal by rallying sharply this month to test lateral resistance just above $8.5.  It currently trades at an estimated PER of 2.74 and yields 4.23%, according to Bloomberg.