The Chinese and Russian delegations, led by their respective leaders, inked three agreements to increase Russian gas flows to China by up to 58bcm during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit held in Beijing from 31 August- 1 September. The most significant was a memorandum of understanding for the long-stalled 50bcm Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline. While not yet a commercial agreement, the MoU announced by Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller could have real implications for the LNG trade, and comes with significant geopolitical ramifications.
China is by far the world’s largest gas importer, taking 182bcm last year – 76bcm pipeline imports from Russia and Central Asia and 106bcm of LNG – well ahead of No.2 Japan on 89bcm. Despite ramping up domestic gas production over the past five years, gas imports continue to climb. Last year, imports accounted for 42% of total gas consumption. (CONTINUED - 1551 WORDS)
