China consumes 12,791,553 barrels per day. Russia produces an average of 11,262,746 barrels per day, roughly 12% of the world’s oil. Russia uses 3,631,287 barrels, imports 15,047 barrels,
and has net exports of 5,098,477 barrels. Russia was China’s second largest crude oil supplier, with China importing, 1.6 million barrels per day, or 15.5% of its oil from Russia, in 2021.
The EU consumes 16, 937,000 barrels of oil per day and purchases 2.3 million barrels of Russian oil per day.
In 2021, China became the world’s largest importer of liquid natural gas (LNG), importing a total of 79.56 million tons (Mt). Russia is the world’s largest exporter and second-largest producer of natural gas. In 2021, Russia produced 762 bcm of natural gas, and exported approximately 210 bcm via pipelines. The European Union imported 155 billion cubic metres of natural gas from Russia, in 2021, which equated to 40% of its total gas consumption.
The Power of Siberia gas pipeline carried 8.5 Bcm to China. The Power of Siberia 2 pipeline is expected to be online by 2031, and doubling gas exports from Russia to China via Mongolia. POS 2 would have a negative impact on the supply of gas in Europe, as it would connect to Russia’s reserves in Western Siberia on the Yamal Peninsula, which is where some of Europe’s gas comes from now. Gazprom would then be in a position to switch deliveries from Europe to China. On the other hand, it will also decrease Chinese demand from sources other than Russia.
In 2021, Australia was China’s largest natural gas supplier, accounting for 39.3% of China’s total, while the US accounts for 11.6%.
Europe would be losing Russian gas in 2031, when The Power of Siberia II pipeline is completed. It would seem prudent for Europe to ween themselves off of Russian gas as quickly as possible. It also looks like China cannot make up for Russia losing gas sales to Europe until after the new pipeline is completed. This should mean continued economic hardship for Russia and a lack of leverage with Europe. After 2031, if China buys all of the gas from Russia that was previously going to the EU, they would stop buying much of the gas they currently buy from other sources, increasing world supply, and driving down prices.
