The Russian gas company Gazprom has started testing the supply of gas from the 2 tcm Kovykta gas field, the largest in east Siberia, to the China-bound, 38 bcm/year, Power of Siberia pipeline. Gazprom also announced that the Kovykta field’s new gas transportation facilities are expected to come onstream in December 2022.
At the end of 2019, Gazprom already started delivering gas from the 1.2 tcm Chanayda gas field (eastern Siberia) to China through the Power of Siberia pipeline. A second pipeline, the Power of Siberia 2, is currently under development and could have a capacity of 50 bcm/year once completed. A feasibility study was completed for the pipeline in January 2022.
Russia is currently aiming to reroute its energy flows from Europe, where sanctions against Moscow have been taken dur to the situation in Ukraine, to Asia, and particularly to China. Russia exported around 16.5 bcm of natural gas to China in 2021.