China may increase gas purchases from Russia in order to reduce its dependence on liquefied natural gas (LNG), primarily from the United States.
This is stated in the material of "Apostrophe".
During the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit held August 31 – September 1, Russia's Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) signed a memorandum on the construction and operation of the Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline. It is intended to supplement the already operating Power of Siberia 1 gas pipeline, which supplies gas from Russia to northern China.
In 2025, Power of Siberia-1 reached its design capacity of 38 billion cubic meters of gas per year, and the capacity of Power of Siberia-2 is expected to be 50 billion cubic meters of gas per year.
"It is important for China to show the countries from which it purchases energy resources, and, above all, the Americans, that it can change the resource base. And if they pursue a discriminatory policy towards China, purchases of liquefied gas from the US, Australia, and Canada may be stopped, and compensation for this will be gas from Russia. said Mikhail Gonchar, President of the Center for Globalistics "Strategy XXI " , in a commentary to "Apostrophe" .
This is especially relevant given that China's maritime communications are potentially vulnerable, while its continental "rear" is reliably covered – at least as long as Russia remains an ally of the Celestial Empire.
"China increasingly prefers to receive energy resources from the continental direction – from Russia and Turkmenistan. On the other hand, China always makes sure not to create excessive dependence on one source. This is also related to the fact that they are in no hurry to implement the "Power of Siberia-2" , – they summed up.
Let us recall that China and Russia signed a memorandum on the construction of the Power of Siberia-2 gas pipeline, which should result in an increase in the volume of Russian gas supplies to China. Apostrophe investigated why China nevertheless succumbed to the Kremlin's persuasion, and how the implementation of this project will affect the global gas market, including its prices for Europe and Ukraine.