Putin says he and Gazprom CEO Miller discussed company's long-term plans on Thurs
MOSCOW. Feb 17 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday discussed plans for developing Gazprom with company CEO Alexei Miller, Putin said during a video conference session with the company's management and employees in honor of Gazprom's 30th anniversary.
"Generally, in the field of international cooperation and export contracts, Gazprom is now facing large-scale complex tasks. They involve the restructuring of logistics routes and gaining footholds in new markets. Just yesterday, Alexei Borisovich and I discussed all these plans with potential partners for probably two hours," Putin said.
"For all the importance of international trade issues, the main thing for us is our own development. Ensuring steady, stable economic growth, the economic security of the country, and the uninterrupted operation of our enterprises and regions. This is improving the quality of life of people in all of Russia's regions," the president said. Putin expressed confidence that the global demand for gas in this transitional period for the global energy industry will only grow.
"Our consumers can be assured that there will be plenty of gas in Russia for many decades to come," Miller said.
Global demand for natural gas is also growing, Gazprom said. Since 1993, the world's gas consumption has almost doubled. More than a third of the growth was accounted for by the countries of the Asia-Pacific region.
In the next 20 years, it is expected that global gas consumption will continue to grow, and by 2040 may exceed its 2022 level by about 20%. More than half of the growth will be provided by the Asia-Pacific countries, and China will be the main center of development.
For 20 years, Gazprom has been working on projects to increase export deliveries of Russian pipeline gas to the east, primarily to China, the fastest growing natural gas market in the world.
Gazprom is systematically developing strategic cooperation with China. Since 2019, the company has been supplying gas to Chinese consumers via the Power of Siberia gas pipeline. The volume of deliveries under the long-term contract after reaching full capacity will reach 38 billion cubic meters per year.
In February 2022, the second long-term gas agreement was signed. The Far East route will supply China with 10 billion cubic meters of gas annually. Infrastructure design is currently underway. Russia and China signed an intergovernmental agreement on the implementation of this project.
Negotiations are underway on a project to supply gas to China through Mongolia in an amount of up to 50 billion cubic meters per year. The pipeline is now being designed. In the foreseeable future, Russia could become the largest supplier of gas to China, the company said.
Special attention is being paid to interaction with Turkey. On the agenda is the creation of a major international gas hub in that country.