Kremlin Says Putin to Launch Gas Field Feeding Pipeline to China
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Russian President Vladimir Putin will take part in a video conference on Wednesday to mark the launch of the Kovykta gas field, which feeds into the Power of Siberia pipeline carrying Russian gas to China, the Kremlin said.
The field is the largest in eastern Russia, and its launch is part of a major drive by Russia to ramp up gas supplies to China as the European Union cuts reliance on Russian energy in response to the war in Ukraine.
“This is a unique deposit,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, Reuters reported.
Russia started selling natural gas to China at the end of 2019 via the Power of Siberia pipeline, which supplied about 10 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas in 2021 and is due to reach its full capacity of 38 bcm in 2025. Russia is now Beijing’s No 3 gas supplier.
In February, Putin reached an agreement to sell an additional 10 bcm of gas to China from Russia’s Far East through a new, smaller pipeline to China’s northeast.
Russia also plans to construct another major pipeline, the Power of Siberia 2, via Mongolia with a view to selling an additional 50 bcm of gas per year.
Putin said last week the projects would allow Russia to boost its gas sales to China to 48 bcm annually by 2025 and to 88 bcm by 2030.
Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev made a surprise visit to China on Wednesday for talks with President Xi Jinping, which Medvedev said had included discussion of the “no limits” strategic partnership that the two countries announced in February.