China cannot replace Nord Stream 1 either: so far this year, Gazprom has exported about 12 percent less gas than in the same period last year. US analysts calculate a particularly low value for funding in July.
Against the background of reduced delivery volumes to Europe, the Russian energy giant Gazprom increased gas exports to China by almost 61 percent in the first seven months of 2022 – but still had to reduce its production. “According to preliminary data, Gazprom produced 262.4 billion cubic meters of gas, which is 12 percent (35.8 billion cubic meters) less than in the previous year,” the company announced on its Telegram channel.
While domestic consumption remained relatively stable at minus two percent from January to July, according to Gazprom, demand from abroad in particular has fallen sharply. The group puts the minus at more than a third (34.7 percent). That’s about 40 billion cubic meters of gas that Gazprom has sold less abroad. This has primarily to do with the supply cuts to Europe, where Moscow has, among other things, reduced gas exports via the Baltic Sea pipeline Nord Stream 1.
Daily production fell last July to its lowest level since at least 2008, reports the US finance agency “Bloomberg” based on figures published by Gazprom. Accordingly, the gas giant produced an average of 774 million cubic meters per day last month, which corresponds to a decrease of 14 percent compared to June.
For the Russian state-owned company, only exports to China developed positively – via the “Power of Siberia” pipeline. However, the volume of Russian gas supplies to China cannot be compared with the European market. In 2021 as a whole, Gazprom only exported 10.39 billion cubic meters of gas via the “Power of Siberia”. In the same period, around 180 billion cubic meters were pumped towards Europe and Turkey.
