Putin’s project to increase gas supplies to China and build a new Power of Siberia-2 pipeline has been put on hold for a long time. Mongolia – through which the 2,500 km long pipeline was supposed to pass – did not include the Gazprom gas pipeline in its national development plan until 2028. Russia offered Mongolia, in addition to transit revenues, the opportunity to receive gas from the pipeline, which has a projected capacity of 50 billion cubic meters per year. However, Moscow still needs to reach an agreement with Beijing. The Russian Federation no longer believes it can get the deal it wants from Beijing. As early as 2022, Putin proposed to Chinese leader Xi Jinping that China increase its purchase of Russian gas to 100 billion cubic meters per year to replace Gazprom’s lost European market. But China’s president never gave the go-ahead for construction, as he demanded the gas price be lowered to the Russian domestic level, about $60 per 1,000 cubic meters. For comparison, China now buys gas from the Russian Federation for $260 per 1,000 cubic meters.
The construction of the Siberia-2 gas pipeline from Russia to China has been delayed for years.
