Gazprom's gas exports, excluding countries of the former Soviet bloc, fell by 45.5% in 2022, according to results announced on Monday, after a year marked by a sharp drop in deliveries to Europe. Western sanctions against the offensive in Ukraine.

In a statement, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said the group exported 100.9 billion cubic meters of gas in 2022 to countries "far abroad", a term that does not include former Soviet republics. .

In 2021, Gazprom had exported 185.1 billion cubic meters to these same countries.

After the economic sanctions taken by the West against Russia, in reaction to its military intervention in Ukraine, Moscow sharply reduced its hydrocarbon exports to the EU.

At the beginning of December, the European Union, the G7 countries and Australia also agreed on a cap on the price of Russian oil for export at US$60 per barrel, in the hope of depriving Moscow of significant income.

In response, Russia announced that it would ban from February 1 the sale of its oil to foreign countries that use its oil cap.

To compensate for the losses, Moscow is trying to increase its gas deliveries to the energy-intensive Chinese economy, and has accelerated this movement.

At the end of December, Vladimir Putin launched the exploitation of a vast deposit located in Siberia which should make it possible to increase exports to China. Russia is also planning the construction of the Siberian Force 2 gas pipeline from 2024 to supply Beijing via Mongolia.

On Monday, the CEO of Gazprom noted that “the prospects for an increase in gas consumption in the world are linked mainly to Asia, and, first and foremost, to China”. Mr. Miller said that in 2022 deliveries to Beijing had exceeded, “at the request of China”, the quantities provided for in the contracts.

In addition to the Siberian Force 1 gas pipeline, Gazprom plans to increase deliveries from the Far East and via the future Siberian Force 2 gas pipeline. cubic meters” of Russian gas to China.