China seeks to buy more Russian gas through an existing gas pipeline, since the conversations between the two countries did not make progress in the construction of a second link, which hinders the search for new exits by Moscow, two sources in the sector reported.
Energy is expected to be a priority in the meeting of Russian and Chinese leaders, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, in China next week.
However, it is unlikely that there will be an advance in the Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline project, of 13.6 billion dollars, to supply 50,000 million cubic meters of gas to the northwest of China during the visit, according to the sources.
Instead, they claim that China is considering increasing its gas purchases through the Power of Siberia 1 gas pipeline, which currently reaches 38,000 million cubic meters.
The sources could not be identified because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the subject.
Russia wishes to expand its oil and gas exports to Asia after losing European markets due to Western sanctions in response to its invasion of Ukraine.
For more than 50 years, Russia supplied Gas to Europe from Western Siberia, which used to provide 180 million cubic microns (BCM) per year, or up to 40% of the gas needs in Europe, generating up to 90,000 million dollars annually for Moscow.
Russia began shipments to China in 2019 from Eastern Siberia through the Power Power of Siberia 1.
The producing areas of Western and Eastern Siberia are not yet interconnected, and Moscow hopes to divert the gas from Western Siberia to China through the construction of the Power Power of Siberia 2.
Gazprom originally designed the gas pipeline to try to make China and the European Union (EU) compete for the gas of those deposits.
The project gained even more importance to Moscow after the EU stopped most of Russian gas imports in 2022 after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
However, Moscow and Beijing did not reach an agreement on the price of gas or the financing of the gas pipeline, despite more than a decade of negotiations.
You are interested: EU and Russia explore ways to restore Russian gas flow to the EU
Gazprom could earn up to 1,500 million pesos per year
The growing national production of gas and the production of renewable energies in China reduced their appetite for energy, although geopolitical risks such as sanctions make imports more attractive from Russia, said Tatiana Mitrova, of the Global Energy Policy Center of the University of Columbia.
Gazprom and the National Petroleum Corporation of China (CNPC) are in conversations to increase the supply through the Power of Siberia 1 gas pipeline at 6,000 BCM per year from 2031, according to a source from the sector based in Beijing.
The new supply could generate 1.5 billion dollars a year for Gazprom, with a gas price of 250 dollars for 1,000 cubic meters, according to reuters calculations.
Pipechina, the Chinese infrastructure state monopoly, initiated a study to expand its national network in order to receive more gas through the Power of Siberia 1 gas pipeline, said another source of the Beijing -based sector that participated in the studies.
The construction could begin in the second semester of 2026, the executive added. Russia and China are negotiating to increase the flow through the Power Gas Pipeline of Siberia 1 to 45 BCM, says Sergey Sanakoev, director of the Asia-Pacific Research Center in Moscow, who participated in the Russian-Chinese conversations about energy.
Gazprom said the gas pipeline can pump more than its nominal capacity of 38 BCM.
“This does not mean that Siberia 2’s power gas pipeline is abandoned,” said Sanakoev.
Russia also plans to start supplying gas to China through a gas pipeline from the island of Sajalín, in El Pacífico, in 2027. The plans foresee a supply of 10 BCM per year.
With Reuters information
Do you use more Facebook? Let us like to be informed
