Power of Siberia to Shut Down for Maintenance: Press
Russia's Gazprom and China's CNPC have agreed to temporarily shut down the Power of Siberia gas pipeline in the second half of March so that routine maintenance can take place, Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported on March 10.
The pair are still finalising exact dates for the maintenance, Gazprom told RIA. They have agreed to undertake maintenance on the pipeline twice a year in spring and autumn.
Power of Siberia started flowing gas to China in the beginning of December and had shipped 840mn m3 by the start of March. Gas supplies are delivered under a $400bn gas deal signed in 2014. But shipments are expected to take until 2025 to ramp up to a peak of 38bn m3/yr, with the pipeline scheduled to handle only 4.6bn m3 of gas this year.
China is understood to have invoked forces majeures on some of its contracts for piped gas and LNG, but Gazprom confirmed on March 5 that it had not received such a notice from CNPC. The country currently imports greater volumes of piped gas from Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. It also sources some supplies from Myanmar.