Page 122 - RusRPTAug22

Moscow’s souring relations with the West over the war in Ukraine and the subsequent shrinking European market for its key export. Mongolian Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai said that he expects construction of the Power of Siberia-2’s Mongolian branch to go ahead despite the war. “The feasibility study of this project has finished and we believe construction will begin in 2024,” Luvsannamsrai told the Financial Times in an interview published Monday. He added that Moscow had not pressured Ulaanbaatar to accelerate construction of the Power of Siberia-2 line despite Russian energy giant Gazprom’s planned pivot to Asia. The planned capacity of the 2,600-kilometer Power of Siberia-2 is 50 billion cubic meters. Russia and Mongolia signed a memorandum of understanding in 2019 to study the Power of Siberia-2’s feasibility across Mongolia. Luvsannamsrai told FT the final route of Power of Siberia-2 was still being “deliberated.”
As part of its dedollarization efforts, Russia is asking India to pay for oil imports in United Arab Emirates (UAE) dirhams, Reuters reported on July 20. Reuters reports that at least two Indian refiners have settled some payments in dirhams, according to sources, adding more would make more payments. The invoice seen by Reuters shows payments to be made to Gazprombank via Mashreq Bank, its correspondent bank in Dubai. The dirham is a convenient currency for both countries and neither India nor UAE have imposed sanctions on Russia. The central banks of India and UAE signed an agreement that allows direct currency swaps. There is also demand for dirhams in Russia as many of Russia’s wealthy have bought real estate in the UAE as an investment and the country has become something of a playground for Russia’s rich. India's central bank last week introduced a new mechanism for international trade settlements in rupees, which many experts see as a way to promote trade with countries that are under Western sanctions, such as Russia and Iran, reports Reuters.
Russia was China's main oil supplier for the second month running in June as buyers shunned Saudi Arabian crude to take advantage of lower-priced supplies offered by Moscow. Market data, according to Reuters on July 20, showed Chinese imports of Russian oil totaled 7.29mn tonnes in June, up nearly 10% from a year ago. That was over 2mn tonnes more than China received from Saudi Arabia, its traditional main supplier. With Western customers shunning oil from Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has turned to markets in Asia and elsewhere to pick up the slack. Bloomberg reported on July 19 that India has gone from importing almost no Russian oil to almost 1mn barrels a day in June. The news agency also noted that flows of Russian crude to China have stalled in recent weeks, a possible sign that Asia may not be equipped to fully absorb as much Russian oil as expected. Separately, data also showed China's imports of Russian liquefied natural gas totaled 520,530 tonnes, the second-highest monthly volume since at least the start of 2021. Russia has cut supplies to several European countries because they have refused to use a mechanism created by Moscow that allows for the
122 RUSSIA Country Report October 2020 www.intellinews.com