Russia’s gas exports fell by a quarter in 2022, says government
Moscow, Feb 13 (EFE).- Russian gas exports have declined by 25.1% in 2022, while supplies to China increased by 48%, deputy prime minister in Alexander Novak said Monday.
“Exports of natural gas decreased 25.1% to 184.4 billion cubic meters. At the same time, in 2022, gas supplies to China actively increased,” Novak wrote in an article published by the Energy Policy magazine.
Last year, Russia pumped 15.4 billion cubic meters of natural gas to the Asian giant, in what was described by Novak as an “all-time high.”
The decline in exports is, according to Novak, linked to two reasons: the refusal of European countries to purchase Russian gas over the invasion of Ukraine and acts of sabotage against the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines.
Under an agreement penned a year ago, Moscow is set to supply Beijing with 10 billion cubic meters of gas through the Far East route, in addition to another 50 billion through new gas pipeline Power of Siberia–2 that will cross Mongolia.
Novak, meanwhile, highlighted that liquefied natural gas exports rose by 7.9% to reach 45.7 billion cubic meters.
Coal exports fell by 7.5% to stay at 210.9 million tons, while total production rose to 443.6 million tons, he added.
Exports of coal to India increased 2.5-fold reaching 16.7 million tons, while those to China rose by 11.2% to be 59.5 million.
Russia plans to multiply its coal exports to the Asia-Pacific region, while railway capacity to transport coal will be increased by 180 million tons per year.EFE
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