Gazprom to Start Exports to China from far East in 2027

FILE PHOTO: Gas pipelines are pictured at the Atamanskaya compressor station, facility of Gazprom's Power Of Siberia 1 project outside the far eastern town of Svobodny, in Amur region, Russia November 29, 2019. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Gas pipelines are pictured at the Atamanskaya compressor station, facility of Gazprom's Power Of Siberia 1 project outside the far eastern town of Svobodny, in Amur region, Russia November 29, 2019. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/File Photo
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Gazprom to Start Exports to China from far East in 2027

FILE PHOTO: Gas pipelines are pictured at the Atamanskaya compressor station, facility of Gazprom's Power Of Siberia 1 project outside the far eastern town of Svobodny, in Amur region, Russia November 29, 2019. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Gas pipelines are pictured at the Atamanskaya compressor station, facility of Gazprom's Power Of Siberia 1 project outside the far eastern town of Svobodny, in Amur region, Russia November 29, 2019. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/File Photo

Russia's Gazprom will start annual pipeline gas exports to China of 10 billion cubic metres (bcm) in 2027, its boss Alexei Miller told an annual shareholders' meeting on Friday.

He also said the Power of Siberia pipeline to China, which started operations in late 2019, will reach its planned capacity of 38 bcm per year in 2025, Reuters reported.

Gazprom has been trying to boost gas exports to China, with the efforts acquiring urgency after its gas exports to Europe, where it used to generate around two-thirds of its gas sales revenues, collapsed in the wake of Russia's conflict in Ukraine.

In February 2022, just days before Russia sent its troops to Ukraine, Beijing agreed to buy gas from Russia's far east island of Sakhalin, which will be transported via a new pipeline across the Japan Sea to China's Heilongjiang province.

Russia has also been in talks for years about building the Power of Siberia-2 pipeline to carry 50 billion cubic metres of natural gas a year from the Yamal region in northern Russia to China via Mongolia. This would almost match the volumes the now idle Nord Stream 1 pipeline that was damaged by explosions in 2022 used to carry under the Baltic Sea.

The negotiations have not been concluded due to differences over numerous issues, mainly about the price of gas. (



World Leaders Descend on Azerbaijan’s Capital Baku for United Nations Climate Talks

 Leaders arrive for a group photo at the COP29 UN Climate Summit, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP)
Leaders arrive for a group photo at the COP29 UN Climate Summit, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP)
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World Leaders Descend on Azerbaijan’s Capital Baku for United Nations Climate Talks

 Leaders arrive for a group photo at the COP29 UN Climate Summit, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP)
Leaders arrive for a group photo at the COP29 UN Climate Summit, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP)

World leaders are converging Tuesday at the United Nations annual climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan although the big names and powerful countries are noticeably absent, unlike past climate talks which had the star power of a soccer World Cup.

But 2024's climate talks are more like the World Chess Federation finals, lacking the recognizable names but big on nerd power and strategy. The top leaders of the 13 largest carbon dioxide-polluting countries will not appear with their countries responsible for more than 70% of 2023's heat-trapping gases.

Biggest polluters and strongest economies China and the United States aren't sending their No. 1s. The four most populous nations with more than 42% of all the world's population aren't having leaders speak.

“It’s symptomatic of the lack of political will to act. There’s no sense of urgency,” said climate scientist Bill Hare, CEO of Climate Analytics. He said this explains “the absolute mess we’re finding ourselves in.”

On Tuesday, Azerbaijan’s president Ilham Aliyev, United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are the headliners of among the nearly 50 leaders set to speak.

But there'll be a strong showing expected from the leaders of some of the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries. Several small island nations presidents and over a dozen leaders from countries across Africa are set to speak over the two-day World Leaders’ Summit at the COP29 conference.