Russian energy giant Gazprom announced it had reached a record level of daily gas volume supplied to China through the Power of Siberia pipeline on Tuesday.
The announcement came as Russian President Vladimir Putin hosts Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on the second day of a state visit with the leaders expected to sign agreements in areas including economic integration.
“On March 20, China’s request for Russian gas supplies via the Power of Siberia pipeline significantly exceeded the existing daily contractual obligations,” the company said in a statement.
“Gazprom delivered the requested volumes and set a new historical record for daily gas supplies to China,” the company said in a statement, ahead of formal talks between Xi and Vladimir Putin.
The company declined to comment to AFP on the volumes, describing the figures as commercially sensitive data.
China has increasingly emerged as a key economic partner for Russia since the West imposed multiple rounds of sanctions on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine last year.
The economic pivot to China has been a boon to Russia as Moscow lost much of its market share in Europe after the Ukraine conflict intensified.
Deliveries via the Power of Siberia pipeline in Russia’s Far East reached an all-time high of 15.5 billion cubic meters in total last year, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said last month.
By 2025, Moscow is seeking to more than double exports through the pipeline to 38 billion cubic meters each year, he added.
In an article published by the Kremlin ahead of Xi’s visit, Putin described the Power of Siberia as the most important economic partnership of the last 100 years.
