China Is Rethinking Its Russian Pipeline Plans

The world is often presented with the assumption that Russia can switch its gas supplies from Europe to China whenever it decides to do so. But that’s not so simple. It’s not only a pipeline issue. The fields supplying Europe are in Western Siberia and those supplying China today are in Eastern Siberia. That’s a monstrously large landmass bridging of which will mean thousands of miles of steel pipes with compressor stations. That’s not cheap even assuming China builds them out of pixie dust. And here the problems only start as the legacy fields in Western Siberia are practically depleted and those in Eastern Siberia are strewn over a large area. 

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