Dec 17 (Reuters) – Construction is progressing on a planned Far Eastern route to supply Russian natural gas to China, Beijing’s ambassador to Moscow, Zhang Hanhui, told Russia’s RIA news agency in remarks published on Wednesday.
The Far Eastern route is designed to send gas from Russia’s Pacific coast to China via a new branch link connected to Russia’s Sakhalin–Khabarovsk–Vladivostok pipeline system.
Exports are scheduled to start in 2027, with China set to import an additional 2 billion cubic metres (bcm) a year initially and volumes later rising to 12 bcm annually.
“Construction of the Far Eastern route for natural gas supplies from Russia to China is steadily progressing,” RIA cited Zhang as saying.
Russia currently supplies pipeline gas to China via the Power of Siberia pipeline, which started deliveries in 2019 and has a design capacity of 38 bcm a year.
Energy has underpinned Moscow’s push to deepen ties with Beijing after Western sanctions over Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine accelerated a pivot away from Europe, with China increasing purchases of Russian crude and expanding gas cooperation.
(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Saad Sayeed)