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Putin offered Pakistan Russian gas through pipelines

Ukraine (bbabo.net), - The supply of Russian gas to Pakistan by pipelines is a promising project. Russian President Vladimir Putin said this at a meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

“And we have something to work on, we have good prospects in various industries: in the field of railway transport, in the energy sector, and there are very interesting and large-scale projects here. This is the so-called “Pakistan Stream”, which is about creating the necessary infrastructure for the supply of liquefied natural gas,” Vladimir Putin also said about the supply of pipeline gas from Russia to Pakistan.

“And this is also possible, bearing in mind that part of the infrastructure has already been created, these are Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan. We need to resolve the issue with Afghanistan: of course, there are problems related to political stability, but, bearing in mind our mutual good relations with the Afghan people, I hope that this problem can also be resolved, bearing in mind the influence of Pakistan on the situation in this country,” the Russian leader noted.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif did not comment on the pipeline project, but noted that he came with a delegation with a proposal to further strengthen and develop relations in the field of energy, trade, investment and, of course, in other strategically important areas.

As supplies to Europe decline due to sanctions and counter-sanctions, Russia faces the question of reorienting gas flows to the East. And most importantly - from the deposits of Western Siberia, which now serves as a raw material base for export to Europe.

In 2024, it is planned to begin construction of Power of Siberia-2 to China, and this project will redirect about a third of Russian supplies to the EU - 50 billion cubic meters. Also in Russia itself, additional gasification and the transfer of vehicles to gas are underway, which will increase fuel consumption within the country. However, domestic demand is unlikely to require much of the remaining 100 bcm of European exports.

Whether Vladimir Putin had in mind the new gas pipeline or the sluggishly implemented TAPI is unknown. It is known that at the end of August, the head of Gazprom, Alexei Miller, came to Ashgabat and met with the President of Turkmenistan.

“Alexey Miller and President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov considered issues of energy cooperation,” Gazprom said sparingly.

The information program "Vatan" of the Turkmen television added that the parties discussed the purchase of Turkmen gas by the Russian company under the current contract and the expansion of cooperation in this area in the long term.

After that, the media began to discuss the prospects for Russian gas supplies to China via the existing gas pipeline from Turkmenistan and Russia's participation in TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) with a capacity of 30 billion cubic meters. One of the main problems of the project is to ensure the security of the gas pipeline in Afghanistan, despite the fact that the Taliban, banned in Russia, is ready to give guarantees and is interested in the project.

“To China, no, since there is no point in sending gas through Turkmenistan. Ashgabat does not control transit gas pipelines in any way,” says Aleksey Grivach, deputy director of the FNEB. In his opinion, we are talking about TAPI or its modifications.

“With all the known difficulties, it provides interesting prospects for entering a large energy-deficient market,” the expert said.

Sergei Grishunin, managing director of the National Rating Agency (NRA) rating service, also believes that it is most likely about the TAPI pipeline.

“The construction of one line of such a pipeline will require up to 1.2 million tons of large-diameter pipes. Now that the authorities in Afghanistan are in general control of the situation, it is possible to start designing this gas pipeline, although the political risks of its implementation are still high,” notes the managing director of the NRA.

As reported by bbabo.net, Pakistan is one of the countries most affected by the energy crisis. On the one hand, it cannot afford LNG at current prices. On the other hand, traders have broken their long-term contracts with much lower prices and are selling LNG on the European market at spot prices that are at $2,000.

Putin offered Pakistan Russian gas through pipelines