Pipeline gas supplies from the Central Asian region to China are under pressure during the summer period due to hot temperatures in the center of the continent, while Turkmen gas has gained another sales channel – to Turkey, with a potentially more attractive price, as per Interfax.

In total, pipeline gas supplies to China in June 2025 amounted to 6.757 billion cubic meters, up 5% compared to a year earlier, according to China’s General Administration of Customs.

This growth was primarily facilitated by another planned increase in supplies from Gazprom via the Power of Siberia pipeline, which was partially offset by a decrease in flows from Central Asian suppliers Kazakhstan (-36%) and Turkmenistan (-7%).

Turkmenistan opened a new export direction in March, with approximately 120 million cubic meters of gas per month being sent to Turkey via swap through Iran. Ashgabat supplies gas to China under a long-term oil-linked contract. In Q2, the price of Turkmen gas fell below $290 per thousand cubic meters. Turkmenistan exports gas to Turkey on a spot basis, and on the European market in June the spot price rose to $435 per thousand cubic meters. An additional constraining factor for Turkmen exports could have been hotter weather in the country compared to last year.

In liquefied form, China imported 5.44 million tonnes of LNG in June 2025, down 8% compared to a year earlier. For the third month, China has not been re-exporting large-tonnage batches of liquefied natural gas, limiting itself to bunkering activity.Australia (the largest supplier) shipped 2 million tonnes (an increase of 10%), Qatar reduced exports 19% to 1.158 million tonnes, and Malaysia increased supplies 12% to 646,000 tonnes.Russia was the fourth largest exporter by volume in June, at 558,000 tonnes (-18%). Large-tonnage LNG in Russia is produced by the Sakhalin Energy plants (co-owners – Gazprom, Mitsui and Mitsubishi), Yamal LNG (participants – Novatek , TotalEnergies and China’s CNPC and SRF), Gazprom LNG Portovaya and Cryogas-Vysotsk. In total, Russia supplied 948,000 tonnes to its largest Asian buyers (China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan) in June. The dynamics of fuel supplies correlate with the usual summer maintenance of production capacities.Combining pipeline and maritime supplies, Russia sent almost 4 bcm of gas to China in June 2025, making it the absolute leader. Russian supplies provided for 29% of the country’s imports. A similar level has been consistently observed since the beginning of the year.
Source: Reuters