MOSCOW, October 22. /TASS/. Russia will begin gas supplies to China along the Far Eastern route by 2027, CEO of Russia’s gas giant Gazprom Alexey Miller said on Sunday.

"We signed a new agreement, which has come into force, on the construction of a gas pipeline from the Far East. This is plus 10 billion cubic meters of gas on top of the 38 billion under the Sila Sibiri contract. The deadline for the beginning of supplies via the Far Eastern route is 2027," he said in an interview with the Moscow.Kremlin.Putin program on the Rossiya-1 television channel.

According to the Gazprom CEO, China is looking at possible increasing gas imports via the Sila Sibiri gas pipeline after it reaches its design capacity of 38 billion cubic meters. "After we reach Sila Sibiri’s design capacity of 38 billion cubic meters in 2025, the Chinese side is looking at increasing supplies via Sila Sibiri. It is not ruled out that such an agreement could be reached soon and supplies via Sila Sibiri will be increased," he noted.

An agreement on gas supplies via the Far Eastern route was signed in Moscow and Beijing on January 31, 2023 and provides for gas supplies via a cross-border pipeline section across the River Ussuri near the cities of Dalnerechensk in Russia and Hulin in China. Gazprom and China’s CNPC signed a long-term contract on pumping 10 billion cubic meters of gas via this route in early February 2022.

Russia exported 15.5 billion cubic meters of gas to China via the Sila Sibiri pipeline in 2022. In 2023, the figure is expected to reach 22 billion cubic meters. The pipeline is expected to reach its design capacity of 38 billion cubic meters in 2025.