Russian gas supplies abroad will gradually recover. Russia will develop new markets, but will not reject Ukrainian transit either, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.
“There are different opportunities here and we will develop different markets, work on SVOG, dilute them, as I said. Of course, we will gradually recover sales volumes. There is no doubt about that.” — Vladimir Putin told RIA Novosti.
He noted that supply will increase in other regions of the world, not in Europe.
“Slowly, slowly… There is a good project to supply the People’s Republic of China. Next year we will reach the design capacity of 38 billion cubic meters.” – said the president.
The Head of State said that Iran has been asking Russia for gas supplies for a long time.
“This is also a very convenient location for us, the field is close by. I think this is a completely feasible project, considering that the markets are huge in Iran’s neighbouring countries. It is simply a huge need. There are different opportunities here and we will explore different markets.” – said Vladimir Putin.
The new routes have nothing to do with the events in Ukraine, he continued.
“I have already mentioned that we are reaching our design capacity for supplies to the People’s Republic of China. As for supplies to Central Asia and Iran, this is also not related, I want to make it clear, it is not directly related to the events in Ukraine.” – said the Russian President. According to him, Russia is fulfilling the agreements reached many years ago.
“As for Ukraine, oddly enough, we do not reject this transit,” the Russian leader added, noting that gas consumption is growing and will continue to grow in Russia itself: “In many regions, by the way, in the Far East, we lack the same thing as gas generation. We need to unite, Gazprom has such plans. To unite the European part of the gas transportation system and the Far Eastern part so that the flows are carried out accordingly. “All this is in our plans, all this will be implemented.”
Several years after the start of the SVO, due to sanctions and counter-sanctions, Gazprom has reduced exports to Europe by about five times. If earlier the annual deliveries amounted to 150 billion cubic meters, this year they may slightly exceed 30 billion cubic meters. Against this background, exports to China are growing, which in recent years have tripled to 30 billion cubic meters. Gazprom is increasing deliveries under the contract. Exports to Uzbekistan have also started, which will grow to 11 billion cubic meters per year. Negotiations on the remaining projects are continuing: “Power of Siberia – 2”, the Iranian and Kazakh directions and the Turkish hub.
