China has increased purchases of Russian oil and gas since the start of the conflict with Ukraine in 2022, with Moscow and Beijing declaring a “no limits” partnership just days before the war began.
The energy relationship between the two countries is expected to be an important topic when presidents Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping meet in Beijing on Wednesday.
Here are some facts about the energy ties between the two countries:
GAS
Russia’s energy giant Gazprom supplies natural gas to China through a 3,000-km (1,865 mile) pipeline called Power of Siberia under a 30-year, $400 billion deal launched at the end of 2019.
In 2025, exports jumped by around a quarter to 38.8 billion cubic meters (bcm), exceeding the pipeline’s planned annual capacity of 38 bcm.
During Putin’s visit to China in September, the countries agreed to increase annual volumes on the route by an additional 6 bcm, to 44 bcm, a year.
In February 2022, China also agreed to buy up to 10 bcm of gas annually by 2027 via a pipeline from Sakhalin Island in Russia’s Far East. The countries later agreed to raise the volumes to 12 bcm.
Russia’s gas exports to China are still a small fraction of the record 177 bcm it delivered to Europe in 2018-19 annually.
Russia’s share in European Union gas imports has shrunk during the Ukraine war, particularly in pipeline flows. Russia remained the EU’s second-largest liquefied natural gas supplier last year with a 16% share but the gap with the EU’s main LNG partner, the United States, widened considerably.
Russia and China are still in talks about a new Power of Siberia 2 pipeline capable of delivering 50 bcm of gas per year from Russia to China via Mongolia.
Gazprom began a feasibility study for the pipeline in 2020, but the project has gained urgency as Russia turns to China to replace Europe as its major gas customer.
Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said in September that the countries signed a “legally binding memorandum” on the pipeline, but a firm contract is still elusive.
Russia’s liquefied natural gas exports to China rose last year by 18.2% to 9.79 million metric tons, according to China’s customs data, cited by TASS news agency.
Russia was, after Australia and Qatar, the third-largest supplier of LNG to China, which is the world’s largest buyer of seaborne gas.
OIL
China is Moscow’s top client for oil shipments via the sea and pipelines. Exports have been high amid Western sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine.
China’s imports from Russia were at 2.01 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2025 (or 100.72 million metric tons in total), a decline of 7.1%, according to China’s General Administration of Customs. That represented 20% of China’s total imported oil by volume.
Yury Ushakov, Putin’s foreign policy aide, said Russian oil exports to China grew by 35% in the first quarter of 2026 to 31 million tons.
China, which is the world’s top oil importer, primarily buys Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) crude exported via the Skovorodino-Mohe spur of the 4,070-km (2,540-mile) ESPO pipeline, which connects Russian oil fields to refineries in China and from the Russian Far East port of Kozmino.
Russia’s oil pipeline operator Transneft has said it was expanding the ESPO pipeline to increase exports via Kozmino, seeking to complete the expansion work in 2029.
China also imports oil from the Pacific island of Sakhalin, taking Sakhalin Blend and Sokol oil grades.
The availability of ESPO Blend oil has remained high since July 2025, when exports had been expanded to 1 million barrels per day. Transneft has kept exports via Kozmino at around this level.
Russia has also agreed to raise its oil exports to China via Kazakhstan through the Atasu-Alashankou pipeline by 2.5 million tons per year to 12.5 million tons.
-Reuters
