RUSSIA'S GAS FOR CHINA

PLATTS - 12 May 2020 - Russian gas flows to China via the Power of Siberia pipeline continue at a steady rate, a spokesperson for state-controlled Gazprom said Tuesday, despite an outbreak of coronavirus at the field that supplies the gas.

Gazprom has evacuated dozens of workers from the Chayanda gas field after a number of workers tested positive for COVID-19, and the field contractor Stroytransneftegaz reportedly suspended some work at the field.

Supplies to China continue at around 9 million cu m/d through the landmark pipeline -- the first direct link for Russian gas to reach China by pipeline.

"All is working OK despite the COVID-19," the Gazprom spokesperson said.

Gazprom is also continuing work to boost flows via the Power of Siberia and plans to complete the construction of a second compressor station on the line, named Ivan Moskvitin, before the end of 2020.

The pipeline, whose eventual capacity will be 38 Bcm/year, started commercial flows at a rate of some 10 million cu m/d in December last year and will increase flows gradually over the coming years.

Gazprom has said exports to China through the Power of Siberia are expected at some 5 Bcm in the first year of operation.

In the second year of operations -- 2021 -- supplies are expected to ramp up to 10 Bcm before increasing to capacity in the mid-2020s.

Gazprom said in mid-April work on ramping up production at Chayanda to its design capacity of 25 Bcm/year was continuing, as well as preparations to add gas from the Kovykta field in East Siberia to the Power of Siberia pipeline from the end of 2022 to be able to bring the line to its 38 Bcm/year design capacity.

Kovykta -- which was discovered in 1987 but left undeveloped despite several changes in ownership -- will be key to topping up supplies for the Chinese pipeline as it ramps up.

Blue Stream maintenance

Separately, Gazprom is also set to carry out an eight-day maintenance on its 16 Bcm/year capacity subsea Blue Stream gas pipeline to Turkey starting Wednesday, the spokesperson said.

The planned maintenance will run from May 13 until May 19.

First commercial gas flowed through Blue Stream in February 2003 and Russian gas exports to Turkey are now supplied solely through Blue Stream and the newly commissioned TurkStream pipeline.

Between them, they have the capacity to supply 31.75 Bcm/year of Russian gas to Turkey -- or an average of 87 million cu m/d.

In February -- the latest month for which Turkish gas import data is available -- a total of 1.112 Bcm of Russian gas was supplied to Turkey.

That is an average of around 38 million cu m/d, suggesting a utilization rate of the two pipelines to the Turkish market of around 44%.

A second TurkStream string supplies Russian gas via Turkey into Bulgaria and on to other markets in southeast Europe.

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