In February 2024, Turkmenistan's volume of pipeline gas deliveries to China amounted to 2.4 billion cubic meters, while Russia supplied China with 2.5 billion cubic meters, Interfax reporst citing China's customs data.
Thus, Russia has surpassed Turkmenistan for the first time, which was previously the leader in pipeline gas deliveries to China.
The reason for this was the increase in gas supply volumes via the "Power of Siberia" pipeline, as well as a decrease in gas exports from Turkmenistan from 89 million cubic meters per day in January to 82 million in February.
It is noted that in February, China imported 5.346 billion cubic meters of gas via pipelines - a record figure for the corresponding month.
At the same time, Russia supplies gas to China not only via pipelines but also liquefied gas. In total, this exceeds the exports of Turkmenistan and Australia, which leads in LNG shipments.
The main LNG suppliers to China in February were Australia (2.985 billion cubic meters, +21%), Qatar (2.193 billion cubic meters, +28%), Malaysia - 846 million cubic meters, Russia (593 million cubic meters), and the USA (551 million cubic meters). In total, in February, China imported 8.645 billion cubic meters of gas.
Meanwhile, as reported by TASS, in terms of the value of pipeline gas deliveries from January to March, Turkmenistan surpassed Russia. Russia supplied hydrocarbons worth $2 billion via the "Power of Siberia" pipeline in the first quarter of 2024, while Turkmenistan supplied $2.4 billion.
"The commissioning of the Power of Siberia gas pipeline at the designed capacity of 38 billion cubic meters is expected in 2025. At the same time, in the coming years, Gazprom's total export volume to China will reach 48 billion cubic meters per year (due to the implementation of the project for supplies via the Far Eastern route), and taking into account the transit pipeline through Mongolia - almost 100 billion cubic meters per year," - TASS quoted Gazprom's head Alexei Miller.
The combined capacity of the three lines of the Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline is 55 billion cubic meters per year.
CentralasianLIGHT.org
April 22, 2024