OREANDA-NEWS Supplies of natural gas from Russia to China via the Power of Siberia route have been resumed, as routine maintenance on the pipeline was completed according to schedule, Russian energy giant Gazprom said on Friday.

“Scheduled maintenance works on the Power of Siberia gas pipeline has been finished,” the company said in a statement released via its Telegram channel. “Gas transportation, as planned, has been resumed today.”

Gas shipments through the pipeline were temporarily halted on September, 20. Under the terms of the contract, the route is closed for inspection twice a year, in the spring and autumn.

Gazprom started pumping gas to China via the 3,000km (1,864-mile) pipeline in 2019 as part of a 30-year deal with China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) five years earlier. The $400-billion deal was Gazprom’s biggest agreement ever.

The capacity of the Power of Siberia, also known as the eastern route, is 61 billion cubic meters of gas per year, including 38 billion cubic meters for export.

Moscow and Beijing are currently planning another major gas route, with Gazprom finalizing construction details for the Soyuz Vostok project, Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier this month at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit.

The Soyuz Vostok, which will deliver natural gas to China through Mongolia, is part of the larger Power of Siberia 2 pipeline. The route will be capable of delivering as much as 50 billion cubic meters of gas once it’s operational.