Gazprom: Russian pipeline gas exports to China to reach 38 bcm in 2025
According to Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller, Russian gas exports to China via the Power of Siberia pipeline will reach its originally planned capacity of 38 billion cubic metres per year in 2025. Miller said this on December 27 in an interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"In 2025, we will fulfil our contractual obligations—in 2025, gas supplies to China will amount to 38 billion m3 ,"Miller was quoted as saying in a Gazprom statement.
Russian state-owned gas giant Gazprom began exporting to China via the Power of Siberia pipeline at the end of 2019. In the first year of its full operation, 2020, it delivered 4.1 billion m3 (bcm), followed by approximately 10 bcm in 2021 and around 15.5 bcm last year.
Russian Energy Minister Nikolai Shulginov said in September that exports were expected to reach around 22 bcm in 2023 and rise to approximately 30 bcm in 2024.
Last year, Gazprom and China's state-owned oil and gas company China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) also agreed on a new long-term contract to supply 10 bcm of gas per year via another route from the Russian Far East.
Gazprom is also planning the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline, which is expected to carry up to 50 bcm to China annually via Mongolia. Talks on the terms of supply through the pipeline are still ongoing.
Gazprom said China, with its "dynamically developing and rapidly growing" economy, would be the main driver of growth in global gas demand. According to Miller, Chinese gas demand nearly doubled between 2016 and 2022, reaching a total of 370 bcm per year, and is forecast to nearly double again by 2040.
Gazprom sets new daily export record to China in December
Miller said Gazprom set a new daily export record on December 23 for gas delivered via the Power of Siberia pipeline.
"We are now supplying China with daily volumes that exceed our contractual obligations," Miller said.
Having lost a large share of its European market, China is an obvious outlet for additional pipeline gas supplies. However, while the Russian company has tried to give the impression that it is redirecting a substantial share of gas flows from Europe to China, the figures show that only a small share of its production is still going to China.
Russia therefore remains dependent on Europe for geographical reasons—most of its pipeline export capacity is geared towards supplying gas to Europe.
Uzbekistan becomes a new partner
In addition to increasing supplies to China, Gazprom began supplying gas to Uzbekistan for the first time in its history in October. Under an agreement announced in June, Uzbekistan's Energy Ministry said the country would import 9 million m3 of gas per day from October to help meet demand during the autumn and winter. The announced volume is equivalent to approximately 2.8 bcm per year.
Uzbekistan has significant domestic gas production and exports gas to China, but suffered shortages last winter and wants to avoid any shortfall this winter.
"Frosts arrived in Uzbekistan in December, and our Uzbek friends and colleagues asked us to increase gas supplies to Uzbekistan to a volume that doubled our daily commitments under the signed contract," Miller said in December.
Gazprom also signed an agreement with Kazakhstan in June to facilitate the transit of Russian gas through Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan. Russian gas supplies are delivered via a dedicated route that uses the Central Asia–Center gas pipeline system.
"We are currently supplying Uzbekistan with the maximum technically possible volume of gas that can be delivered through the Central Asia–Center pipeline system," Miller said.
Translation disclaimer
This article is a machine translation of the Czech original and has not yet been fully reviewed. In case of any doubt, please refer to the Czech version.
