The statement was made as Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met with Chinese President Hu Jintao during his state visit to Russia.
“No one is talking about gas supplies to China in 2011 anymore,” Gazprom Deputy Chief Executive Alexander Ananenkov said at a news conference.
China and Russia have been in talks for several years to build two pipelines to transport up to 80 Bcm of West and East Siberian gas to China.
The eastern route would deliver gas from the Sakhalin III project to northeastern China, and the western route is planned to transport gas from West Siberia to China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region through Altai of Russia.
Mr Ananenkov added that decreased demand, both in Russia and abroad, due to the global economic crisis could also see the further development of the East Siberian Kovykta gas field postponed until after 2017.
At the same news conference, Gazprom’s export boss Alexander Medvedev said that the company’s Sakhalin II would export over 5 MMt of LNG this year, up from the initial estimate of 3 MMt.