(Reuters) — Alexei Miller, the chief executive of Russian gas giant Gazprom, said on Thursday that the company accounts for more than half the increase in China's gas imports this year, without providing figures.
Gazprom's natural gas exports, mainly to Europe, almost halved last year after the West responded with economic sanctions to Moscow calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine, and unexplained blasts on the Nord Stream gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea.
Russia, whose economy is heavily reliant on commodity sales, has diverted exports of oil from Europe to Asia and other regions.
Miller also said, in a statement posted on Gazprom's Telegram channel, that natural gas consumption in Europe was declining for the second year running. He said demand had declined in 2022 by 56 billion cubic meters, while for the first eight months of this year it had fallen by another 26 Bcm.
"At the same time, we see that the Chinese gas market is growing. China's gas imports have increased over the eight months of this year. And more than half of the increase in these supplies imported to the Chinese market was provided by Gazprom," he said.
Russia supplies gas to China via the Power of Siberia pipeline. Exports through the route reached 15 Bcm last year, and it is planned that this will rise to 22 Bcm in 2023.