MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia’s Gazprom has agreed to a modest rise in gas supplies to China via an existing pipeline and has signed a memorandum on building the vast Power of Siberia 2 pipeline.
What is the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline project?
* The proposed pipeline would bring gas from the huge Yamal Peninsula reserves in West Siberia to China, the world’s top energy consumer and a growing gas consumer.
* Russia proposed the route years ago but the plan has gained urgency as Moscow looks to Beijing to replace Europe as its major gas customer.
* The existing Power of Siberia pipeline runs for 3,000 km (1,865 miles) through Siberia and into China’s northeastern Heilongjiang province.
* The new route would cut through eastern Mongolia and into northern China.
* Gazprom began a feasibility study on the project in 2020, and has aimed to start delivering gas by 2030.
* Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said it would be “the largest, most ambitious and most capital-intensive gas project in the world.”
* The 2,600-km pipeline could carry 50 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas a year, slightly less than the now defunct Nord Stream 1 pipeline linking Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea.
(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin, Editing by Louise Heavens)
