Automotive Exports December 2022

Russia increases gas exports
to China, reducing market
dependence on Europe
In an attempt to wean the country from its
dependence on the European gas market,
Russia has increased gas exports to China,
using the Siberia pipeline.
The pipeline, also known as the Eastern
Route, delivers energy “via the mega gas
pipeline regularly” and it exceeds daily
“contractual obligations”.
The pipeline became functional in 2019,
spanning 3,000 kilometres, and has the
capacity of carrying 61 billion cubic metres
of gas per year, with 38 billion cubic metres
slated for export.
The two countries are working toward
developing another gas route through
Mongolia called Soyuz Vostok.
Expanding its energy market in China has
been one of its top priorities for Russia. As
Beijing is in the process of phasing down
coal usage, the Kremlin seems eager to
“exploit the opportunity” in light of their
growing alliance.
Gazprom, the Russian energy giant, said
that it supplied 42.6 percent less gas to
countries outside the Commonwealth of
Independent States (CIS), a segment that
includes most of the European Union.
The Gazprom report noted that total
exports had decreased from 158.8 billion
cubic metres (bcm) of gas in the first ten
months of 2021 to 91.2 bcm in the first ten
months of 2022.
European countries whose gas purchases
from Gazprom remain capped have been
stockpiling gas thanks to unusually mild
autumn weather –– Bloomberg noted that
in the past, Russia had regularly supplied
about a third of Europe’s gas consumption.
Even while EU gas storage sites remain
at a 94 percent capacity, higher than the
past five years’ seasonal average of 89
percent, Bloomberg pointed out the words
of Gazprom Chief Executive Officer Alexey
Miller, who said if the weather were to
get abnormally cold, Europe’s gas reserves
wouldn’t keep citizens warm throughout
the winter.
Bloomberg quoted Miller as adding
“Europe could lack some 800 million
cubic metres of gas a day without Russian
supplies during high demand.”
According to Bloomberg, Gazprom
continues to supply gas flows via Ukraine
at capped levels and “those to Hungary
and Serbia are going through one leg of the
TurkStream pipeline” that runs from Russia
to Türkiye
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