Gazprom OAO will receive $25 billion from China as a prepayment under the terms of a $400 billion contract Russia’s natural-gas monopoly signed last month though the details and timing of payments and delivery of the gas aren’t yet finalized, the company’s deputy chief executive said Wednesday. Gazprom’s Alexander Medvedev said he would not disclose the price that China National Petroleum Corp. has agreed to pay for the Russian gas but insisted the deal will make money for the state-controlled Russian energy group. The lack of details of the contract, which is seen by analysts as the Kremlin’s attempt to reduce its dependence on the European gas market, has raised questions in Russia about whether the criteria for striking the deal were primarily political rather than economic . In the […]