Russian gas supply stop - now the Kremlin is hoping for China
Created: 09/19/2022, 13:58
By: Patricia Huber
Russia's gas supplies to the EU have come to a standstill.
China is now the new target market.
But there are massive problems.
Moscow/Beijing – Russia's gas supplies via the Nord Stream 1 Baltic Sea pipeline have been suspended for several weeks.
But that could also become a problem for Russia, because the excess gas has to go somewhere.
China is seen as a great hope here.
Since 2014, Russia has been working on the pipeline named Kraft Siberia.
So far, the mega-project has cost the equivalent of 55 billion euros – about five times as much as the Baltic Sea pipeline Nord Stream 2.
Gas: Russia wants to deliver 50 billion cubic meters to China
Next up is the Kraft Siberian 2 pipeline.
It will replace the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea pipeline, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Thursday evening (September 15) on the Russian television channel
Rossiya-1.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Uzbekistan, Novak said Russia will supply China with 50 billion cubic meters of gas annually.
The contracts will be signed shortly, Nowak said in Uzbekistan.
50 billion cubic meters would roughly correspond to the maximum capacity of the Nord Stream 1 - 55 billion cubic meters pipeline.
No gas has flowed through the pipeline to Europe since September.
According to Russian information, due to technical problems, which the West considers advanced.
Nord Stream 2 has not been put into operation because of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.
Construction of the Siberian Power 2 should start in 2024, Nowak said.
Gas has been flowing from the Russian Republic of Yakutia to China through the Power of Siberia 1 pipeline since 2019.
The energy minister announced deliveries through the pipeline would be increased to reach 20 billion cubic meters per year.
The connection of the Kovitka field near Lake Baikal next year will make this easier.
Gas deliveries to China: Mongolia could become a problem
But as promising as all this sounds for Russia, there are a few catches.
Mongolia stretches several kilometers between Russia and China.
The route of the second China pipeline could therefore lead either west or east along Mongolia – or through the middle.
But as a transit country, Mongolia would have the power to stop the flow of gas.
In addition, the energy company Gazprom would then have to pay transit fees to the country, reports the
Handelsblatt
.
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There is also another reason why China is not the best substitute for gas supplies.
Because the country is not dependent on the large gas supply volume from Russia.
Therefore, it has more power over pricing, Kirill Rodionov, an expert at the Moscow Institute for the Development of Technologies in the Energy Sector, explains to the
Handelsblatt
.
This means that Russia would earn significantly less from supplies to China than from energy supplies to the EU.
(ph/dpa)