Power of Siberia pipeline (the largest gas transmission system in Russia’s East) currently supplies gas from the Chayandinskoye field to domestic consumers in Russia’s Far East and to China. In late 2022, Power of Siberia will start receiving gas from one more field, Kovyktinskoye, and will then supply natural gas from fields in Russia’s Sakha-Yakutia Republic to consumers in Far East, Irkutsk Region, China and Asia-Pacific.
Now, construction of the second section of the pipeline has been launched. The new line is projected to be 803 kilometers long and operate at working pressure of 9.8 MPa. It will link Chayandinskoye field to the large Kovyktinskoye field (with proved reserves of 2.7 tln cubic meters of natural gas and 90.6 mio tons of gas condensate) and then reach Irkutsk. Constructing the second section of the pipeline will require investment of about RUR 280 bln ($3.7 bln).
The Power of Siberia is a major project of Russia’s Gazprom natural gas producer. The pipeline is being constructed by some 2K Gazprom employees using about 1K units of equipment and machinery.
Initially, Gazprom intended to supply to China 5 bln cubic meters of natural gas in 2020, 10 bln in 2021 and 15 bln in 2022. The aggregate export capacity of 38 bln cubic meters per year was intended to be reached by 2025 and maintained for another quarter a century. Yet the pandemic caused a sharp decline in China’s gas imports (just some 1.5 bln cubic meters over the first 6 months of the year). By November though, the aggregate imports from Gazprom were at some 3 bln cubic meters.
It is now reported, that Gazprom is cutting its investment in the section of the pipeline (running from Chayandinskoye field to Blagoveshchensk on the border with China) which is already in operation, by 60% from RUR 78.5 bln ($1.01 bln) to RUR 31.2 bln.