On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin inaugurated the exploitation of the huge Kovkyta gas field in Siberia, allowing for increased exports to Beijing, which will boost the transportation of Russian gas through the “Power of Siberia” gas pipeline that feeds China.
The economist and international energy consultant, Amer Al-Shobaki, said, in an interview with the Sky News Arabia economy website, that the first option for Russia to export its gas is to the most economically developed country and the second largest economy in the world, which is China, which was in place even before the Ukrainian war and the exchange of sanctions between Russia. and the West.
Thus, the development of pumping Russian gas to China through the “Power of Siberia 1” line began in 2019, at a rate of 10 billion cubic meters annually. It reached 15 billion this year, and is expected to reach 38 billion cubic meters in 2025, in addition to 6 billion cubic meters of gas. Russian liquefied is shipped via sea tankers to China.
As for the planned “Power of Siberia 2” line, it will be fed through a network of gas fields, the same as those that secured the exports of the Nord Stream 2 line to transport Russia’s gas to Europe, which means mitigating the impact of stopping pumping its gas there and compensating for its loss, even partially.
The Siberian Power Line 2 will enable the Russians to export huge quantities of gas to China at the rate of 50 billion cubic meters annually, but there is still a long way to go for it to be completed, which may take years.
With its entry into service, the total amount of gas that Russia will pump to China through the two pipelines and through maritime transport will amount to about 94 billion cubic meters, which constitutes approximately 61 percent of the volume of Russian gas exports to Europe, which is approximately 155 billion cubic meters annually.
And China’s need for gas secures 43 percent of it by importing 80 billion cubic meters of liquefied gas and about 46 billion through pipelines from countries such as Kazakhstan and not just from Russia, and therefore long-term contracts between Moscow and Beijing are required in order to be able to say that China will buy the pipeline energy completely From Russia, which is not yet certain, as China seeks to diversify sources of energy purchase and not rely on one side.
However, there is no doubt that the cheap prices of natural gas through pipelines will provide an advantage for Russia and reduce the costs of Chinese production, which gives greater competitiveness to Beijing’s products in global markets, which makes Russian gas a favorite for China.
strategic relationship
Strategically, this deepens the Sino-Russian relations and makes them more solid and participatory, which pushes for more cooperation in various fields, which will contribute to the crystallization of a bilateral economic and political alliance between the two countries of an eastern nature, in exchange for the G7 alliance of a western nature.
sustainable interest
As for the economic feasibility of activating the “Power of Siberia 2” line, it is very large for the Russian and Chinese sides, as the Russian budget, despite the sanctions, depends in half on energy and gas imports, which constitutes a third of it. Thus, when Russia sells 60 percent of the gas that it previously pumped to Europe to another party, which is China. Thus, the Russians are making up for a large part of the money they lost from selling gas to European countries.
outrun the US economy
In addition, China, on the other hand, will benefit from this by accelerating the approach of its $18 trillion economy to the $24 trillion US economy, which is expected to happen in the year 2027. However, continuing to strengthen the gas partnership with Russia may accelerate the pace of China’s economic growth, and even surpass it in size. Early US economy.
Russia has been trying for several years to increase its gas supplies to the Chinese economy, a large energy consumer, and this movement has accelerated in recent months.
The Russian authorities want to increase their shipments to reach twenty billion cubic meters of gas every year, especially by taking advantage of the reserves of the newly launched Kovikta field.
It also plans to build the “Siberia 2” gas pipeline, starting in 2024, to supply China with gas through Mongolia, in order to double its gas exports and keep pace with the rise in Chinese demand.
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