Russia reveals ‘new level’ of gas supplies to China

Addis Ababa, January 3, 2023 (FBC) – Russian energy major Gazprom has reached a “fundamentally new level” of gas exports to China, the company’s CEO Aleksey Miller announced on Monday, according to RT’s report.

Over the past year, deliveries regularly exceeded contractual obligations, at Beijing’s request, Miller explained in a statement on the company’s Telegram channel.

“On December 31, a few days ahead of schedule, we started to supply daily volumes that are contracted for next year. This means that from January 1, 2023, Gazprom reached a fundamentally new level of supplying gas to China,” Miller added.

Russia supplies gas to the Asian nations via the Power of Siberia pipeline. Gazprom intends to further increase deliveries to China with more gas transportation routes planned.

Despite the boost in trade with Beijing, however, Gazprom saw its overall export volume drop by roughly 45% last year compared to 2021, and its production fell by about 20%, TASS news agency reported on Monday, citing its own calculations based on the figures provided by the Gazprom CEO.

The company’s supplies to Europe, its largest customer, were halted last year in the aftermath of anti-Russia sanctions and explosions damaging the two Nord Stream gas pipelines.