CHINA-RUSSIA: CHINA AND RUSSIA COMMENCE CONSTRUCTION OF TWO OIL AND GAS PIPELINES
China's State-owned China National Petroleum Corp. agreed to import more natural gas from
Russian major Gazprom in a deal announced on the sidelines of the summit between Chinese
President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin in February. Currently, the only gas
pipeline between Russia and China is Power of Siberia, which began operating in 2019 and has
an annual capacity of 38 billion cu. meters. Nikkei Asia (March 12) said the countries plan to
establish a new pipeline under the deal with an annual capacity of 10 billion cu. meters.
Russia's Gazprom on March 1 also announced it had begun taking concrete steps toward the
construction of the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline, which would pass through Mongolia and have
an annual capacity of around 50 billion cu. meters. These projects, which include the Power of
Siberia expansion and the new Altai link through China's Xinjiang region, would expand
pipeline capacity between the countries to over 100 billion cu. meters a year -- equivalent to
almost half of China's imports.
|