June 2025, Vol. 252, No. 6
Editor's Notebook
Are Russia and China Really Going Green?
By Michael Reed, Editor-in-Chief
(P&GJ) — If the China News Service (CNS) is to be believed, Russia and China are building a more expansive energy alliance, which will include not just traditional energy trade, but also hydrogen and renewables.
Russia had already announced its intention to become a major global supplier of hydrogen, using its vast natural gas resources to produce blue hydrogen – with carbon capture – and its nuclear power capacity for yellow hydrogen, which is produced with electrolysis powered by nuclear energy.
China, with advanced hydrogen technology and rapidly increasing market demand, is positioned to complement Russia’s resource base.
There are some recent examples that have already shown a growing inter-dependence between the two nations where fossil fuel is involved.
For one thing, Russia has been China’s leading supplier of crude oil the last two years, having overtaken Saudi Arabia in 2023 with about 2.14 MMbpd. That was a 24% increase over the previous year, according to China’s import-export division, the General Custom Administration.
The shift was driven in part by increased demand from Chinese refiners for discounted Russian crude, as well as changes in global oil markets.
“Over the past 30 years, [the] collaboration has expanded from the trade in oil to natural gas, pipelines, upstream exploration and development, engineering construction and equipment exports,” Zhang Xiuling, director of the Overseas Investment Environment Department, told national English-language newspaper, China Daily, recently.
Separately, in the area of hydrogen development, there are plans underway between Russia’s Rosatom and China’s LS Group on a low-carbon hydrogen production plant on the former’s Sakhalin Island.
This facility is being designed to produce 36,500 tons of hydrogen per year, with the potential for expansion, and will supply both domestic and Asia-Pacific markets, including China. The agreement includes the supply of Chinese equipment and the export of Russian hydrogen to China, according to Russian state-owned news agency TASS.
By 2030, Russian hydrogen exports could reach 2 mtpa, generating significant revenue and positioning the Sakhalin region as a key exporter in the emerging hydrogen market, TASS added. (That number seems suspect, but nonetheless.)
In the area of renewables and green energy, Russia and China have signed letters of intent to jointly develop low-carbon energy industries, focusing on hydropower plants (HPPs) and other alternative energy sources.
The agreement included plans to boost power exports from Russia to China, derived from hydropower, and to collaborate on the construction and operation of renewable energy power plants.
There has also been consideration given to joint carbon capture and storage (CCUS) projects, low-carbon technologies, and carbon footprint monitoring, through the use of China’s advances in solar, wind and electric vehicle technologies.
These initiatives support both countries’ commitments to achieve carbon neutrality before 2060, providing mutual benefits in terms of energy security, technology exchange, and access to new markets.
As far as midstream goes, the two countries are reportedly in the “active stage” of discussions on the proposed Power of Siberia-2 gas pipeline, though any sort of formalized agreement is not expected soon.
Russia has looked toward China for several years as a partner in constructing the 50 Bcm/a Power of Siberia-2 to transport natural gas from its Yamal region in north of Russia to China by way of Mongolia. Neither a precise route nor terms of shipping have been determined yet, China’s ambassador to Russia said in April.
Further snags for the project could be that the Mongolian government has yet to approve pipeline and that if analysts are correct, may not need increased gas supplies until after 2030.
That aside, China’s energy security will continue to be tied to Russia and their proximity to one and other providing a key advantage for allowing many projects to bypass other countries and decrease military risks to pipeline routes.
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