Putin held back surprise on gas pivot to East until talks in Bishkek
Russian President Vladimir Putin did not detail the topics of his negotiations with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in a conversation with reporters today. He only noted that 8 points of agreements reached in the spring are being implemented. They will be detailed in Bishkek at negotiations between the prime ministers of the two countries. A “good substantial” plan for interaction between Russia and China until 2030 will also be signed there.
However, observers expected something significant from today's negotiations, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
This was due to the fact that the Russian delegation included the heads of Gazprom, Rosneft and Rosatom. There have been speculations that an agreement will finally be signed on the construction of the Power of Siberia-2 gas pipeline, which will redirect gas from Yamal, previously supplied to Western Europe, to China. But that did not happen.
However, Putin raised the topic of “Power of Siberia-2” during a meeting with the President of Mongolia Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh, who also arrived at the “One Belt, One Road” forum in China. The President of the Russian Federation said that he hopes for a good pace of progress of this project. The construction period for Power of Siberia-2 was previously announced as 2024-29. However, the Russian Federation and China did not confirm them at the official level.
Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Alexander Novak said that negotiations are underway on the “Power of Siberia-2”.
“We hope that they will be successful, completed in some near future, and the corresponding contract will also be signed,” he said.
At the same time, the head of Gazprom, Alexey Miller, assured journalists that in the near future, pipeline gas supplies to China could reach the level of volumes that Russia previously had to Western Europe, that is, 130 billion cubic meters per year.
“Power of Siberia-2” is designed to have a capacity of 50 billion cubic meters per year. The first gas pipeline with this name supplies 22 billion cubic meters from Sakhalin and Yakutia.
What are Miller's optimistic forecasts based on? Kommersant reports that today at the forum Kazakhstan signed a new agreement on gas supplies to China in 2023–2026. The details of the deal are not disclosed, but experts noted that the contract between the Kazakh QazaqGaz and the Chinese PetroChina was concluded two weeks after Gazprom began supplying its gas in transit through Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan. Apparently, we are talking about Russian gas, and Kazakhstan is a transit country.
Deputy General Director of the Institute of National Energy, Alexander Frolov, is confident that China will completely replace Western Europe in terms of volumes of purchases of “blue fuel” from Russia.
“The already operating Power of Siberia will reach the planned gas pumping volumes in the next two years. On the “Far Eastern” route, contracts have been signed with the Chinese side and the necessary work is underway to begin deliveries. The launch of Power of Siberia 2 will provide another 50 billion cubic meters, while the entire infrastructure has already been built.
Much will depend on China's needs. If the contract is signed in 2023-2024, then we can expect that Russia will reach the volumes that were sent to Western Europe,” he believes.
Indirect confirmation that the construction of Power of Siberia-2 is progressing came from the Ministry of Labor of the Russian Federation, which increased the quota for attracting foreign workers to this project.
Putin held off on surprise gas pipeline expansion to the East until talks in Bishkek