Russia resumes gas supplies to China
Russian energy giant Gazprom announced on Thursday the restart of natural gas deliveries to China following the completion of regular maintenance on the Power of Siberia pipeline.
“Scheduled maintenance work on the Power of Siberia gas pipeline has been finished,” the company said in a statement released via its Telegram channel. “Gas transportation, as planned, has been resumed today.”
Gas shipments through the pipeline were temporarily halted on September 21. Under the terms of the contract, the route is closed for inspection twice a year, in the spring and autumn.
Gazprom started pumping gas to China via the 3,000km (1,864-mile) pipeline in 2019 as part of a 30-year deal with China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC). The $400-billion deal was Gazprom’s largest ever agreement.
The capacity of the Power of Siberia, also known as the eastern route, is 61 billion cubic meters of gas per year, including 38 billion cubic meters for export.
Last year, Russia exported 15.5 billion cubic meters of gas to China via the pipeline. According to Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Novak, gas supplies to China via the pipeline will reach 22 billion cubic meters in 2023, as Moscow continues to boost energy cooperation with Beijing. Gazprom has been gradually increasing gas flows via the eastern route since the beginning of the year, when Moscow and Beijing signed an agreement for additional supplies.
The two countries are also working on the Power of Siberia 2 energy project, which involves the construction of an additional gas route to China through Mongolia.
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