Russia has increased gas supply to China via its Power of Siberia pipeline after its invasion of Ukraine began, ENN Energy CFO Liu Jianfeng said on the company’s earnings call.

ENN is one of China’s largest city gas utilities and purchases gas from oil majors including China National Petroleum Corp, which operates the import pipeline on its side of the border.

The Power of Siberia network is not connected to pipelines that send gas to Europe, which has faced surging gas prices due to tight supplies, one of several points of tension with Moscow.

Under plans previously drawn up, Russia aimed to supply China with 38 bcm of gas by pipeline by 2025.

Flows to China had been increasing before the invasion, as well, with Gazprom saying in mid-February it had just set a daily record for exports to China on the pipeline.

One month ago, Russia agreed to a 30-year contract to supply gas to China via a new pipeline and will settle the new gas sales in euros, bolstering an energy alliance with Beijing amid Moscow’s strained ties with the West over Ukraine and other issues.

The Russian firm and a Beijing-based industry official said Gazprom agreed to supply Chinese state energy major CNPC with 10 billion cubic metres of gas a year.

Discussions between the two firms began several years ago after the start-up of Power of Siberia, a 4 000 km pipeline sending gas to China. Talks accelerated more recently after Beijing set its 2060 carbon-neutral goal.

Meanwhile, as Russian gas exports to China increase, those headed for Europe have slowed, and in some cases such as the Yamal-Europe pipeline, been largely shut for much of 2022.

Source: ZeroHedge