MOSCOW, July 23. /TASS/. The Russian Ministry of Energy considers it promising to increase oil exports to China through shipment in the ports of the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea, Deputy Energy Minister Sergey Mochalnikov said.
"With pipelines to China fully loaded, we see prospects for increasing supplies of Russian oil to China by sea with shipment in the ports of the Black and Baltic Seas. We are ready to help companies implement this initiative," he said.
In the first half of 2024, China increased purchases of gas from Russia by 22.5% and oil by 4.8%, Vice Premier of China Ding Xuexiang said.
In 2023, China imported 107 mln tons of oil from Russia, an increase of 24%. The volume of oil supplies from Russia in the first half of the year amounted to 55 mln tons.
At the same time, Russia exceeded the plan for gas supplies to China via the Power of Siberia pipeline by 800 mln cubic meters (mcm) in 2023 and in 2025 supplies will reach 38 bln cubic meters (bcm), Mochalnikov added.
"In 2023, the plan for supplies [of gas via the Power of Siberia] was exceeded by 800 mln cubic meters, they amounted to 22.7 bln cubic meters. Next year we plan to reach the design capacity of 38 bln cubic meters," he said.
Mochalnikov noted that according to the data as of July 1, 2024, a total of 68 bln cubic meters have been pumped through the Power of Siberia since the launch of the gas pipeline.
Power of Siberia is the largest gas transportation system in Eastern Russia. In the coming years, Gazprom's total exports to China will reach 48 bln cubic meters of gas per year (due to the implementation of a project for gas supplies to China via the Far Eastern route), and taking into account the transit gas pipeline through Mongolia - almost 100 bln cubic meters per year, Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller said. Miller later said that China is considering the possibility of increasing Russian gas supplies through the Power of Siberia beyond the design capacity of 38 bln cubic meters.