Russia boosts gas flow to China

Russia has increased natural gas deliveries to China via the Power of Siberia pipeline this year, Saint Petersburg energy giant Gazprom said on its official Telegram channel on Monday.

Deliveries were up 60.9% compared to the same period last year.

“In particular, in July deliveries were regularly in excess of the daily contract quantities, with the historical record of the daily export volume being surpassed three times,” Gazprom said.

Meanwhile, Gazprom’s export to non-CIS countries amounted to 75.3 billion cubic meters, which is 34.7% (40 billion cubic meters) less than during the same period in 2021. The company stressed, however, that it was supplying gas “in accordance with customer requests.”

According to preliminary data, global demand in Gazprom’s supplies in the first seven months of 2022 fell by about 35 billion cubic meters compared to the same period in 2021. Most of the decline, totaling 31 billion cubic meters, came from EU buyers, Gazprom noted. This is due to several factors including the conflict in Ukraine, EU sanctions and Russia’s counter-sanctions, and the bloc’s new policy towards reducing its reliance on Russian energy.

The Power of Siberia pipeline supplies natural gas from Russia’s Yakutia to the countries of the Asia-Pacific region. It is a joint project of Gazprom and the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), which supplies China with Russian energy under a 30-year-contract signed in 2014.

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