Page 5 - AsiaElec Week 48 2022

AsiaElec COMMENTARY AsiaElec

of existing and planned gas pipelines from Rus- year amid abnormal heat and energy deficit at
sia to China is 100 bcm, which equals 27% of the request of the Chinese side. In January-Oc-
China’s gas consumption last year and would go tober supplies rose by 33% y/y to almost 4bn
a long way to replacing the EU as Russia’s main kWh,” he said. Inter RAO told Tass that Moscow
gas customer. and Beijing have recently signed an agreement
“Russia’s pipeline supplies of gas to China will to increase Russia’s electricity exports to a record
surpass 100bn cubic metres per year in the fore- 4.4bn kWh in 2022 and Novak added that power
seeable future,” Sechin said without providing exports may rise another 11% by the end of this
a timeline. “That said, the potential of the Rus- year.
sian resource base of natural gas is substantially “The monthly volumes of supplies have been
higher than those volumes.” The issue is both doubled at the request of the State Grid Corpora-
about gas reserves in Eastern Siberia diverted tion of China. We expect an increase in supplies
from the European direction and about a vast by 11% by the end of the year,” he said.
resource base in Russia’s east, according to the In a quid pro quo, China opened its grain
CEO. Rosneft has an estimated 2 trillion cubic markets to Russian imports in the first weeks
metres of gas in its gas reserves in Eastern Siberia after the war started, something that the Kremlin
and the Far East, Sechin said. has been lobbying for for years.
China is also increasingly reliant on Russian And China has rushed into the space left
coal, which remains the main fuel burnt in its vacant by the departing Western firms. China is
power stations. Russian coal supplies to China bolstering its share on the Russian retail market
amount to almost a quarter of Chinese imports and tapping into new niches, Russian ambas-
and stood at 53mn metric tonnes in January-Oc- sador to Beijing Igor Morgulov told Tass on
tober 2022. Russia is the second biggest supplier November 17.
of coal to China, accounting for a quarter (23%) “The exit of many Western corporations
of its supplies, second only to Indonesia. from our country has provided Chinese compa-
Earlier, the head of the Russian energy min- nies with the opportunity to increase the share
istry’s coal department Petr Bobylev told TASS of their products and to tap into new niches on
that Russia was negotiating an increase in coal the Russian market, which I expect they will use,”
supplies with China. he stressed. “In fact, the process is underway
In addition, Russia is boosting its cross-bor- already.” Russia’s diplomatic mission and trade
der power exports to China, which were up by a mission are providing help to China in every
third (33%) to almost 4bn kWh in the first ten possible way, he noted.
months of the year, setting a new record over the Exports of agricultural products from Rus-
first ten months of this year, Tass reports. sia to Asian countries in January-October 2022
“[State-owned utility] Inter RAO has boosted increased by 14% compared to the same period
electricity supplies from Russia to China this in 2021, according to Agroexport center under

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