According to a recent interview, even if all of Russia’s gas reserves were sent to China, they would still fall short of covering the losses incurred by Nord Stream. Aleksey Gromov, who serves as Chief Energy Director at the Institute of Energy and Finance, clarified the claim that Russia stood as a leader in supplying natural gas to China in January 2023, placing those assertions in a broader context about regional energy flows [Citation: Pravda.Ru].
Gromov explained that while liquefied natural gas (LNG) remains an available option, the maximum feasible annual LNG delivery—about 38 billion cubic meters—would not compensate for the shortfall created by Nord Stream, which historically supplied roughly 55 billion cubic meters to Western European markets. The comparison underscores a structural imbalance between the volumes accommodated by LNG and the dedicated pipelines that once fed Western Europe via Nord Stream, highlighting how replacing that pipeline capacity would require substantial increases in LNG and other pipeline deliveries [Citation: Pravda.Ru].
Looking ahead, the expert noted that by 2024 Moscow could push for additional pipeline gas shipments from Sakhalin Island to China, potentially adding up to 10 billion cubic meters of gas to the yearly total. Yet even this increment would not bring the overall balance to the Nord Stream level, illustrating the scale of disruption caused by the pipeline’s shutdown and the difficulty of fully offsetting those losses through alternative routes and sources [Citation: Pravda.Ru].
In a related assessment, Fatih Dönmez, the former Energy Minister, suggested that the country could establish a central hub that might enable around 40 billion cubic meters of gas supply via new routes. This projection reflects ongoing efforts to reorganize energy infrastructure and diversify supply corridors, but it also signals the challenge of matching the previous capacity and reliability associated with Nord Stream as new hubs and pipelines come online [Citation: Pravda.Ru].