Page 120 - RusRPTNov23

of the strings of the TurkStream gas pipeline with a capacity of 15.75 bcm annually, the agency said.
Construction of the Mongolian portion of Russia's planned new Power of Siberia-2 gas pipeline to China may start in the first quarter or first half of 2024, TASS news agency quoted Russian Deputy Prime Minister Viktoria Abramchenko as saying on October 25. Russia, which is diverting its energy exports from Europe to Asia amid political fallout from the conflict in Ukraine, currently exports gas to China through the Power of Siberia 1 pipeline, via which it aims to raise supplies to 38 bcm annually by 2025. Abramchenko said after a meeting of a Russia-Mongolia inter-governmental commission in Ulaanbaatar that approval of the design paperwork for the Soyuz Vostok gas pipeline, the Mongolian portion of Power of Siberia-2, was expected in the first quarter of next year.
Hungary is set to make increased purchases of Russian gas this winter, Moscow's state-owned energy giant Gazprom said, despite growing criticism in the West that the arrangement is funding the war in Ukraine. Speaking on state television on Sunday, Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller said that "significant additional volumes are reaching the Hungarian market." He added that 1.3bn cubic meters of gas have already been delivered to Hungary on top of existing contracts this year.
China is considering raising purchases of Russian gas shipped through the Sila Sibiri pipeline after it reaches the target capacity of 38bn cubic meters (bcm) in 2025, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller told channel Rossiya 1 in an interview on October 22. "After we have reached a Sila Sibiri supplies plateau of 38 bcm in 2025, the Chinese side is considering raising the volume of shipments via Sila Sibiri as well," Miller said. Russia is also planning to start delivering 10 bcm of gas to China additionally from the Far East of the country from 2027.
Supplies of Russian gas to Europe by the end of this year are expected to be two thirds lower than in 2021, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said. "Russian gas is cheap, reliable. True, the volumes have decreased. Supplies are lower notably than earlier, the volume will go down by around two thirds by the end of this year compared with 2021," he said in an interview with RT Arabic. Meanwhile, Europe "purchases Russian LNG with pleasure" now, Novak noted.
As EU gas prices rise again, the IEA predicts a demand decline for blue fuel until 2026. The spot price of gas in Europe on October 11 exceeded the mark of $500 per thousand cubic meters for the first time since the beginning of April. The day-ahead contract on the TTF platform in the Netherlands rose to $506 in the afternoon on October 10, but the price adjusted to $486 by the end of trading. Meanwhile, the International Energy Agency expects global
120 RUSSIA Country Report November 2023 www.intellinews.com