ASTANA (Reuters) – Kazakhstan and Russia have determined the route of a future gas pipeline to support shipments between the two countries and China, Kazakhstan’s energy minister said on Tuesday.
The pipeline will help Russia, hammered by Western sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine, boost its energy and raw material sales to Asia, while giving Kazakhstan a supply guarantee for its central, northern and eastern regions.
“Discussions are underway on the construction of a gas pipeline from Russia to China through the northern regions of Kazakhstan, the route has already been determined and the conditions for the construction of this gas pipeline are being discussed. ” Kazakh, Alamsadam Satkaliev.
He did not give further details.
Russia is discussing a possible gas union with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to support shipments between the three countries and other energy buyers including China.
Exports of Russian pipeline gas to Europe, which used to be Russia’s main oil and gas supply market, nearly halved last year following the start of what the Kremlin views as a special military operation in Ukraine.
To compensate for the loss of the European market, Moscow is strengthening commercial and political ties with Asia, which has become the main buyer of Russian oil, a major source of revenue for the Kremlin.
Eager to increase natural gas sales to China, Russia is in talks with Beijing about building a second pipeline, Siberian Power 2, with an annual capacity of 50 billion cubic meters (bcm), roughly double Nord’s 55 bcm. commensurate with capacity. Stream 1 submarine gas pipeline to Germany, damaged and paralyzed.
Negotiations have been difficult and there is still no agreement on the price of gas.
Last year, Kremlin-controlled Gazprom also agreed to supply Chinese state energy company CNPC with 10 billion cubic meters of gas a year from the Russian island of Sakhalin in the country’s far east.
Russia currently supplies China through a single route: the Power of Siberia pipeline, which is expected to reach its full annual capacity of 38 BCM by 2025.
