Russia plans to build 13,009mi of pipelines through to 2018, which will have a substantial impact on natural gas trade flows into Europe and crude oil and natural gas flows into Asia, specifically into China and North Korea, says research and consulting firm GlobalData.

With 36,650mi of planned pipeline length additions, the Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region will be the single largest contributor to the global total of 90,101mi, accounting for 41% during the forecast period. Russia’s key major projects include the Trans-Korean gas pipeline and the Yakutia-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok gas pipeline, both 1,988mi, and the 1,651mi Altai Gas system into Xinyuan, China.

As a result of the recently announced Russia-China natural gas ‘mega-deal’, new natural gas pipeline systems will be built, linking Russia’s Siberian production fields to China’s industrial centres, with initial natural gas deliveries scheduled to commence in 2018.

Carmine Rositano, GlobalData’s managing analyst covering Downstream Oil & Gas, says: “European countries are now seeking to avoid over-dependence on Russian gas supplies. This has triggered plans for several new pipeline projects in the EMEA region, with the aim of providing access to natural gas from the Caspian Sea and Central Asia to the key European consumers of gas.”