07-03-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Mongolia still expects new Russia-China gas pipeline to go ahead
Mongolia still expects the Power of Siberia 2 project – a major new gas pipeline connecting Russia and China – to go ahead despite a turbulent geopolitical situation that could lead to a realignment in relations between Beijing, Moscow and Washington.
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The pipeline, if completed, would divert 50 billion cubic metres (1.8 trillion cubic feet) of Russian natural gas per year that previously supplied Europe to China via Mongolia.
But speculation has been growing in recent months that progress on the project has stalled, with analysts arguing that China is
reluctant to increase its dependence on Russian energy imports.
Power of Siberia 2 was omitted from the Mongolian government's 2024-28 work programme, and Chinese and Russian officials have provided few recent updates on the project.
Yet, Mongolia's first deputy prime minister, Gantumur Luvsannyam, insisted that negotiations over the pipeline were proceeding and that the talks were making progress.
If China and Russia reach a deal and start building the pipeline, we are ready to cooperate and accelerate the project
Gantumur Luvsannyam, Mongolian minister
'The reason why it's not included in the action programme of the government of Mongolia is because it is an issue that cannot be decided one-sidedly by [the Mongolian cabinet],' Luvsannyam, who also serves as Mongolia's minister of economy, told the Post in an interview.
