Russian gas shipments to China hit a new daily record, confirming the importance of the Chinese market to Russia, after it almost lost the European market due to the war in Ukraine.
According to Bloomberg, the Russian company Gazprom did not disclose the volume of gas exported to China, but it said last week that it was working to increase supplies to China via the Siberian Energy Pipeline.
Last September, the Russian Ministry of Energy estimated that Russia's gas exports to China would reach 22 billion cubic meters in 2023, rising to 30 billion cubic meters in 2024.
A clause attached to a gas supply contract concluded with the Chinese company CNPC allowed the Russian state-owned company to increase flows starting in mid-November.
Officials from the two companies also discussed potential gas supplies via the Siberian Energy 2 pipeline through Mongolia, during a meeting held in Beijing last Thursday.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said that he hopes that Gazprom and the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) will soon be able to agree on the terms of the contract for the sale of gas through the Power of Siberia-2 pipeline.
Russia has been in talks for years about building the Power of Siberia-2 pipeline, which would transport about 50 billion cubic meters of gas annually from Yamal in northern Russia to China via Mongolia.
“We expect the company to reach an agreement as soon as possible,” Novak said.
Novak explained that Gazprom supplied China with about 19 billion cubic meters of gas through the Power of Siberia pipeline in 10 months.
