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Gazprom and CNPC sign standards for coalbed methane field development

The parties noted the high reliability of Russian gas supplies to China via the Power of Siberia gas pipeline

MOSCOW, December 18. /TASS/. Gazprom and China's CNPC signed standards for the development of coalbed methane fields at the annual meeting of the companies' joint coordinating committee in Beijing, the Russian holding company said in a statement.

"Gazprom and CNPC continue their joint work in R&D, underground gas storage, personnel training, and standardization. During the meeting, two intercorporate standards for coalbed methane field development were signed," the statement says.

The parties noted the high reliability of Russian gas supplies to China via the Power of Siberia gas pipeline. In 2025, Gazprom regularly provided said gas supplies in excess of the daily contractual volumes.

In addition to that the meeting participants discussed the progress of the project for gas supplies via the Far Eastern route and reviewed the matters related to the prospective Russian gas supplies to China.

On gas supplies to China

Gazprom launched the Power of Siberia gas pipeline to China at its maximum design capacity of 38 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas per year on December 1, 2024. Supplies via the Power of Siberia totaled 4.1 bcm in 2020, 10.39 bcm in 2021, 15.4 bcm in 2022, 22.73 bcm in 2023, and 31.12 bcm in 2024.

In the first nine months of 2025, Gazprom increased supplies via the Power of Siberia by more than 27%. Gazprom will supply over 38 bcm of gas to China via the pipeline by the end of this year, according to company CEO Alexey Miller. The Power of Siberia is the largest gas transportation system in eastern Russia, with an export capacity of 38 bcm of gas per year. The first pipeline deliveries of Russian gas to China via the eastern route began in December 2019 under a 30-year contract signed in 2014 between Gazprom and China's CNPC. The total supply volume over the entire period will exceed 1 trillion cubic meters of gas, and the contract value is $400 billion.

Following Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to China in late August - early September 2025, Russia and China signed documents for the supply of a total of 106 bcm of gas per year. During the visit, a memorandum was signed on the construction of the Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline with a capacity of 50 bcm. The parties decided to increase supplies to 44 bcm of gas per year from the projected 38 bcm for the Power of Siberia pipeline, and to increase supplies by 2 bcm for the Far Eastern corridor under construction, from 10 to 12 bcm per year.

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