Summary Box: China needs natural gas power and Russia is offering to ensure a steady supply

Summary Box: Can Russia be China’s gas supplier?

BIG SUPPLY: Russia has massive stores of natural gas and its economy needs a cash infusion from sales to get it through the economic downturn that has crimped oil sales.

BIG DEMAND: Coal companies are already scrambling to meet seemingly endless demand for power in China, where industry is booming and a growing middle class is using more electricity at home.

EAST MEETS FURTHER EAST: China and Russia signed agreements to boost energy cooperation. Moscow said it can supply its energy hungry neighbor with all the natural gas it needs. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin told reporters in Beijing that Russia is in talks with China to open the spigot starting in 2015.