Russian President Vladimir Putin's project to build a new gas pipeline and increase gas supplies to China has been suspended for an unknown period of time. The South China Morning Postreports and UNN reports.
Details
The publication explains that Mongolia, through which the 2,500-kilometer-long pipe was supposed to pass, did not include Gazprom's gas pipeline in its national development plan until 2028.
Earlier, Moscow offered Mongolia to receive gas from a pipeline with a design capacity of 50 billion cubic meters per year in addition to transit revenues. However, the Kremlin failed to reach an agreement with China, the main buyer of gas.
As early as 2022, Putin proposed to Xi Jinping to increase purchases of Russian gas to 100 billion cubic meters per year to replace Gazprom's lost European market. However, despite statements about a “strategic partnership” without borders and Putin's trips to Beijing, the Chinese president has not given the go-ahead for the construction.
According to the Financial Times , the reason for this was the price of gas: China is demanding that it be lowered to the domestic Russian level, i.e. about $60 per thousand cubic meters. This is four times cheaper than Russian gas costs China now: $260 per thousand cubic meters through the Power of Siberia-1 pipeline.
Recall
Russia will sell gas to China at a price almost 30% cheaperthan to Europe at least until 2027, according to the forecast of the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia.