The Mongolian side is finishing the environmental assessment of the Soyuz Vostok natural gas pipeline from Russia to China, Russia's Energy Ministry said after the minister's meeting with Mongolia's special envoy Zandaakhuugiin Enkhbold on Friday.
"The discussion focused on the construction of the Soyuz Vostok natural gas pipeline through Mongolia, which will become a continuation of the Power of Siberia 2 [pipeline]. After talks with Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh in September 2024 Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia was considering not only its gas transit through Mongolia but also a possibility of supplying the fuel for Mongolian consumers," the statement said.
"By now engineering surveys are complete; the process of assessing the environmental effect of the project is nearing completion," it said.
The pipeline would lend additional impetus to the years-long Russian-Mongolian cooperation, the minister said.
The sides also discussed joint projects to reconstruct a thermal power plant in Mongolia and the application of Russian sector-specific standards in joint projects.
The Soyuz-Vostok pipeline will cross Mongolia and become a continuation of the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline. The latter will deliver annually up to 50 billion cubic meters of gas from West Siberia to China via Mongolia. The project's completion dates depend on Gazprom and China's CNPC concluding a contract that is still a subject of negotiations.
Annual gas consumption in Mongolia, which is due to transit Russian gas to China, could reach 5.6 billion cubic meters by 2040, according to scientists at the Melentiev Institute of Energy Systems based in Siberia. (March 21, 2025, Source: https://interfax.com/newsroom/top-stories/110548/)
RUSSIA - CHINA - Natural Gas - TRANSPORT - DISTRIBUTION