Russian President Vladimir Putin officially launched on Wednesday the exploitation of the Kovykta gas field, a vast deposit located in Siberia which should make it possible to increase exports to China in the midst of a crisis between Moscow and the West.
“We are launching the Kovykta field, the largest in Eastern Siberia (…) Begin work,” Putin said during a ceremony broadcast by videoconference live on television.
The exploitation of this deposit will initiate “a real dynamic of development” and signals that a “powerful and strategic industrial complex is being created in eastern Russia”, he added.
In addition, Mr. Putin continued, the commissioning of this site will make it possible to “ensure the reliable delivery of gas (…) both to Russian companies and to our foreign partners”.
This gas field presents “new opportunities for economic and social development, as well as new opportunities for our growing exports”, added the director of the Russian giant Gazprom, Alexei Miller.
The Kovykta field, located near Lake Baikal in Siberia, is to supply the Siberian Force 1 gas pipeline, which since the end of 2019 has linked the Tchaïandina field (Yakutia) to northeast China.
Russia has been trying for several years to increase its gas supplies to the energy-intensive Chinese economy, and has accelerated this movement in recent months.
Indeed, since the launch of its military offensive against Ukraine, Moscow has been targeted by Western economic sanctions and has sharply reduced its hydrocarbon deliveries to Europe, turning to Asia to compensate.
The Russian authorities want to increase their deliveries to reach 20 billion cubic meters of gas each year, in particular by tapping into the reserves of the Kovykta field.
Russia is also planning the construction of the Siberian Force 2 gas pipeline from 2024 to supply China via Mongolia, another sign that the Russian energy strategy has indeed taken a turn towards the East.