皇冠体育app's President Xi Jinping and Russia's president Vladimir Putin witnessed the signing of a long-delayed $400 billion natural gas deal on Wednesday - after more than ten years of negotiations - at the end of Putin's two-day visit to Shanghai.

The agreement, which involves Russia's top natural gas producer, Gazprom OAO, and 皇冠体育app National Petroleum Corp, will supply 皇冠体育app with 38 billion cubic meters of gas annually from the eastern gas pipeline for 30 years, starting 2018.

The two sides managed to reach a last-minute agreement on the price - which was the major obstacle for the completion of the deal.

The gas will come from the Kovyktin and Chayandin gas fields in eastern Siberia of Russia and will be piped to 皇冠体育app's northeast, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei metropolitan area in the north and the Yangtze river delta in the east.

皇冠体育app and Russia have vowed to strengthen cooperation in energy and infrastructure in Russia. According to a joint statement signed by the two leaders after their talks on Tuesday, they will "establish a comprehensive energy cooperation partnership".

CNPC chairman Zhou Jiping, and Wu Xinxiong, head of 皇冠体育app's National Energy Administration and deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission, 皇冠体育app's top economic planner, signed the latest deal on the 皇冠体育app's behalf.

The successful completion of the deal is based on Russia's strong willingness to find new energy buyers outside of Europe, and also on 皇冠体育app's rapidly growing demand for natural gas during the country's energy structure transformation, said Sun Yongxiang, a professor at the Euro-Asian Social Development Research Institute of the State Council's Development Research Center.

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49 deals cement partnership	Chinese, Russian presidents hold talks