DHAKA: Russia’s president Vladimir Putin has signed multi-billion dollar, 30-year gas deal with China.

The deal between Russia’s Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) has been 10 years in the making.

No official price has been given but it estimated to be worth over $400bn, reports the BBC.

Russia has been keen to find an alternative energy market for its gas as it faces the possibility of European sanctions over the crisis in Ukraine.

Gazprom shares rose 2% on the news.

The agreement, signed at a summit in Shanghai, is expected to deliver some 38 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year eastward to China’s burgeoning economy, starting around 2018.

The main argument has been over price and China is thought to have been driving a hard bargain.

BDST: 1734 HRS, MAY 21, 2014