Russia's energy giant Gazprom has announced plans to expand its profile in Asia. This strategy comes at a time when the company is enjoying record profit's in Europe.
During a presentation at the Eastern Economic Forum in
Vladivostok, Gazprom's head Alexei Miller noted that the company had
expanded European exports by 10 percent between January and August
2016. In addition, the energy giant's monopoly share of the European
market reached 31 percent.
Miller also signaled his intention to pivot the firm's strategy
eastward. Gazprom has signed important agreements with the Asian
market. For example, the “Power of Siberia” contract signed in
May 2014 is projected to supply 38 billion cubic meters of gas to
China each year. This still lags behind Germany's 45 bcm from Russia
each year. The European state remains Gazprom's biggest partner.
“In the short term [in Asia] Russian gas exports to the east
will be comparable with the volume of gas exports to Europe,” said
Miller. Gazprom's head also announced plans to construct a helium
processing plant in asia, as well as increase its export of chemical
products.
LNG is another vital component of the company's Asian strategy.
According to Miller, Gazprom plans to increase the production
capacity of the “Sakhalin-2” plant. This facility produced 10.8
million tons of liquified gas was produced in 2015.
Other speakers at the forum, including BP's Bob Dudley, noted that Vladivostok is favorably located for Eastern cooperation. Dudley noted that the city acts as a “staging post” for Siberian resources to be effectively exported globally.
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