Russian gas sales to China ‘will not make up for loss of European markets’ after Ukraine invasion
- Russia currently provides far more gas at a higher price to Europe, according to a leading energy analyst
- But China’s real value is as a source of necessary goods after the West imposed sweeping sanctions on Moscow following the attack on its neighbour
Increased China purchases of Russian natural gas will not make up for the loss of the European market, but their real importance to Moscow will be as a channel for necessary goods in the face of strict Western sanctions, according to a leading energy analyst.
But China, the world’s biggest single energy consumer, opposes sanctions and said its trade with Russia, including oil and gas, would continue.
However, even in the most optimistic scenario, the future volume going to China could only be about two-thirds of the current volume of Europe.
And the total revenue would be no match for the loss from Europe because of the low contracted price, said Tatiana Mitrova, research fellow at the Centre on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University.
“They are definitely not able to offset the whole exports which are now going to the West,” she said on Saturday on the sidelines of the Doha Forum in Qatar.