Russia’s Gazprom Says Gas Flow to China Set New Daily Record

By Bloomberg

Dec 17, 2023

image is BloomburgMedia_S5T4JODWLU6800_17-12-2023_16-45-25_638383680000000000.jpg

Pipes carrying gas at the Kasimovskoye underground gas storage facility, operated by Gazprom PJSC, in Kasimov, Russia, on Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2021. Russia signaled it has little appetite for increasing the natural gas it transits through other territories to Europe as the winter heating season gets underway.

(Bloomberg) -- Russia’s Gazprom PJSC said Sunday it set a new daily record for gas deliveries to China on the previous day, underscoring the importance of its giant neighbor after it all but lost the European market over the war in Ukraine.

While it didn’t disclose the volume of gas sent to China, Gazprom said last week it’s working to ramp up supplies to Beijing via the Power of Siberia pipeline. An addendum to the gas supply contract with China’s CNPC allowed the Russian state-owned company to increase flows from mid-November.

READ: Gazprom Plans China Flow to Match Historical Levels to W. Europe

Officials from the companies also discussed potential gas supplies via the planned Power of Siberia 2 pipeline via Mongolia at a meeting in Beijing on Thursday.

Russia expects an agreement between Gazprom and CNPC on a contract to supply gas through Power of Siberia 2 will be reached as soon as possible, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said Sunday, according to the Interfax news service.

Russia’s Energy Ministry estimated in September that gas exports to China would be 22 bcm this year, rising to 30 bcm in 2024.

(Updates with Novak comment in fourth paragraph)

By Bloomberg News