Background
Gazprom’s main partner in China is CNPC, a state-owned oil and gas corporation.
In May 2014, Gazprom and CNPC signed the 30-year Sales and Purchase Agreement for 38 billion cubic meters of gas per year to be supplied via the eastern route (Power of Siberia gas pipeline), which is the largest contract of this kind ever signed in the history of the global gas industry. The aggregate amount of gas to be supplied within the entire validity period of the Sales and Purchase Agreement is above 1 trillion cubic meters of gas.
On December 2, 2019, the ceremony marking the start of the first-ever pipeline supplies of Russian gas to China was held with the participation of Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, and Xi Jinping, President of the PRC.
In line with the Sales and Purchase Agreement, Gazprom was consistently stepping up the volumes of gas supplies via the Power of Siberia pipeline: 4.1 billion cubic meters in 2020; 10.39 billion cubic meters in 2021; 15.4 billion cubic meters in 2022; and 22.73 billion cubic meters in 2023. It should be noted that the volumes of gas delivered were regularly above the annual amounts of supplies stipulated for Gazprom by the Agreement.
In September 2024, Gazprom and CNPC signed the Supplementary Agreement to the Sales and Purchase Agreement for gas to be supplied via the eastern route. The document envisages additional gas supplies in December 2024, which means the increase of the daily exports of gas to China via the Power of Siberia pipeline to the maximum contractual level ahead of schedule (not in early 2025, as had been previously planned).
