Russian gas to China via the Power of Siberia pipeline set a new record on December 20, energy company Gazprom said.
Bloomberg noted that although Gazprom did not provide specific figures on the amount of gas supplied daily to China via the Power of Siberia pipeline, the gas flow supplied on December 20 exceeded the contracted level.
This figure broke the previous record set on December 7 on the same gas pipeline, Gazprom said.
In early December, Russia increased gas supplies to China via the Power of Siberia to the equivalent of 38 billion cubic meters per year, reaching the pipeline's designed capacity ahead of schedule.
With this move, for the first time, Russian gas supplied by Gazprom to China exceeds the amount of gas supplied to Europe via gas pipelines.
Russia’s energy ties with Europe have been severely damaged by the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The Russian gas giant has lost most of its European customers due to the conflict. Meanwhile, Russian gas deliveries to China have increased every year since the Power of Siberia pipeline began operating five years ago.
Russia supplied nearly 29 billion cubic meters of pipeline gas to China from January to November 2024, up 40% from the same period last year, according to Bloomberg calculations based on Chinese customs data and estimates from the Russian Economy Ministry.
During the same period, Gazprom delivered 28 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe, up nearly 14% year-on-year. The figure is based on data on Russian gas flows through Ukraine and via the TurkStream pipeline.
Earlier this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky both ruled out extending the deal to transit Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine, which is set to expire at the end of 2024.
If no solution is found, the loss of the pipeline route through Ukraine would be equivalent to losing about 15 billion cubic meters of gas per year. This would further reduce the amount of Russian gas supplied to European customers by 2025.
