A staff member works at the Yongqing compressor station of the Changling-Yongqing section of the China-Russia east-route natural gas pipeline in Yongqing county, North China's Hebei Province, December 3, 2020. Photo: Xinhua

 The eastern route of China-Russia Natural Gas Pipeline transported over 50 billion cubic meters of natural gas in the past four years of operation, PipeChina announced on Saturday. The rising volume of natural gas being sent to China attests to deepening energy cooperation between the two countries.

As of Saturday, the pipeline transported over 20 billion cubic meters of natural gas to date this year, setting a new record.

Starting from the original transportation capacity of 5 billion cubic meters, the eastern route of China-Russia Natural Gas Pipeline had increased its yearly transportation capacity to 20 billion cubic meters, which is expected to climb further in 2024, according to PipeChina.

The eastern route of China-Russia Natural Gas Pipeline is the third cross-border natural gas pipeline for China. PipeChina is placing multiple auxiliary facilities to increase the transportation capacity of the 5,111-kilometer-long pipeline.

China and Russia share a close economic and trade relationship, particularly in energy cooperation. From January to August this year, China-Russia energy trade reached $56.19 billion (397.3 billion yuan), up 6.2 percent year-on-year. 

Russia is the third largest exporter of natural gas and second largest exporter of crude oil to China, according to media reports.

China's crude oil imports will remain above 200 million tons and natural gas imports will exceed 180 billion cubic meters by 2040. In the future, China-Russia energy cooperation will form an important part of China-Russia commerce and the key to balancing China-Russia bilateral trade, Wang Zhen, president of CNOOC Energy Economics Institute was quoted as saying.

At the 5th Russia-China Energy Business Forum held in October, Chinese and Russian companies signed about 20 cooperation agreements, further deepening energy sector cooperation between the two nations. This year, Russia's energy exports to China have increased by 17 percent year-on-year, according to a report by Cankaoxiaoxi.com.

PipeChina is pushing the construction of the eastern route of China-Russia Natural Gas Pipeline project, with the production of the pipeline from Heihe in Heilongjiang Province to Taixing in East China's Jiangsu province, clean energy from Siberia will be fueling the high-quality development of a large swatch of China.

As a clean energy source, Chinese market demand for natural gas keeps increasing. In 2022, China consumed 367.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas, of which 109.25 million tons were imported.