Time.news – Gazprom has taken a new step towards the largest natural gas supply agreement with Chinawhile nations around the world cut economic and political ties with Russia over the invasion of Ukraine.
Gazprom – reports Bloomberg – has indeed signed a contract to design the Soyuz Vostok gas pipeline which, through Mongolia, will reach China.
Should Russia reach a new gas supply agreement with China, Soyuz Vostok it could carry up to 50 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year to the Asian giant Asian nation.
A new gas supply deal with China would also allow Gazprom to build an interconnection between its West and East pipeline systems, effectively allowing Russia to redirect gas to China from fields that now only feed the country. ‘Europe.
This, moreover, it could reduce Gazprom’s dependence on the European continent, currently the largest buyer of Russian gas. The pipeline design contract comes as the European Union and the United States, as well as countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada and Japan, have enacted a series of sanctions against Moscow following the war in Ukraine.
Indeed, the measures taken are limiting Russia’s ability to import key technologies, tap into international financial markets and even tap into part of its $ 640 billion foreign exchange reserves.. Although Russian gas exports have not been impacted by the war at the moment, Europe is exploring new options to diversify its sources of supply in order to be less dependent on Gazprom.
The agreement signed by the Russian giant to transport gas to China via Mongolia comes after several years of negotiations.
Miller, pipeline with China enters the practical phase
“Today the design contract has been signed: this means that the project has moved into the practical implementation phase.” This is how Gazprom’s chief executive, Alexey Miller, commenting on the signing of the contract for the design of the Soyuz Vostok gas pipeline which, through Mongolia, will arrive in China, an infrastructure that could transport up to 50 billion cubic meters of natural gas to the year towards the Asian giant.
Gazprom signed a 30-year, $ 400 billion deal in 2014 to directly supply up to 38 billion cubic meters of gas per year to China through the Power of Siberia gadget, through which deliveries began at the end of 2019. .
In recent months, when Gazprom’s flows to Europe were limited, shipments to China were regularly above the daily contract volumes. Furthermore, in early February, Russia reached a smaller gas agreement with China for 25-year direct supplies of 10 billion cubic meters per year from fields in the Far East.