Russian energy group Gazprom announced on Wednesday that it has set a new record for its daily gas deliveries to China via the Power of Siberia pipeline, Reuters reports.

Gazprom did not provide a specific figure for the new record but stated that its total gas exports to China via the Power of Siberia pipeline amounted to 22.7 billion cubic meters in 2023, almost 1.5 times more than the 15.4 billion cubic meters delivered in 2022.

Russia has increased its gas supplies to China to counteract the decrease in gas sales in Europe, after the invasion of Ukraine led Western countries to impose sanctions on Moscow and reduce their dependence on Russian energy, according to Agerpres.

Gazprom emphasized that the total volumes of gas delivered to China in 2023 were 700 million cubic meters, or 3.2%, higher than the amount it was contractually obliged to deliver to China via the Power of Siberia pipeline. The Russian state-controlled group reiterated that this pipeline will reach its maximum export capacity of 38 billion cubic meters per year in 2025.

Russia is negotiating to build a new gas pipeline, called Power of Siberia-2, which would transport 50 billion cubic meters of gas per year from the Yamal region in northern Russia to China via Mongolia, an amount equivalent to the pipeline Nord Stream 1 in the Baltic Sea, a pipeline that is now unused after being damaged by explosions in 2022.

The Power of Siberia-2 project has gained priority because Moscow wants to double its gas exports to China, in order to counteract the phenomenon of a dramatic decrease in Russian gas sales in Europe. But so far no agreement has been reached on a number of key aspects for the Power of Siberia-2 project, including the price of gas delivered through this pipeline.

According to Reuters calculations, Russian energy group Gazprom’s pipeline gas deliveries to Europe fell 55.6 percent in 2023 to 28.3 billion cubic meters, compared with a peak of 175-180 billion cubic meters reached in the period of 2018-2019.