12.09.2026 Trade & Markets #Russia #China #Export #Statistics #Trade agreements

Russia and China report energy trade records at Vladivostok forum

At the Russian-Chinese Energy Business Forum held in Vladivostok on September 4 as part of the Eastern Economic Forum 2026, top executives from Rosneft and Gazprom reported fresh milestones in cooperation with Beijing. Bilateral trade between Russia and China has grown more than 50-fold over 30 years and now exceeds $200 billion, accelerating by 26% in January–July 2026 versus the same period last year, Rosneft chief Igor Sechin said (tks.ru). At the same time, Gazprom head Alexey Miller reported new daily delivery records on the Power of Siberia pipeline (1prime.ru).

Energy resources underpin the trade relationship

Sechin said energy resources — crude oil, gas, petroleum products, coal and electricity — make up more than 60% of Russia's exports to China, with Russia's share of China's energy imports reaching 22% (tks.ru). The oil figure is even higher: in the first seven months of 2026 Russia shipped 67 million tonnes of crude to China, lifting its share of Chinese oil imports to a record 23% (vedomosti.ru). Sechin estimated the economic benefit to China from buying Russian oil instead of Middle Eastern alternatives at $27 billion since 2022 (vedomosti.ru). He also noted that Russia and China together account for a third of all energy produced worldwide — 4.3 billion tonnes of oil equivalent per year (vedomosti.ru).

Coal: a fifth of China's imports against rapid domestic capacity growth

Also according to Sechin's remarks at the same forum, Russia supplies roughly 20% of China's coal imports, with 2025 deliveries totaling about 90 million tonnes (tks.ru). China itself, he said, is scaling up domestic coal-fired generation, commissioning 78 GW of new capacity in 2025 with a further 160 GW-plus planned, while coal is set to remain around 40% of the country's power consumption over the next decade (tks.ru). That leaves room for Russian suppliers, but growth in the segment is likely to lag the much faster expansion of China's own generation capacity.

Power of Siberia: new daily records and a capacity upgrade

Miller said the Power of Siberia pipeline has already set three new daily delivery records in 2026 — twice in January and once in July (1prime.ru). In 2025 deliveries reached design capacity of 38.8 billion cubic meters, up a quarter year on year (1prime.ru; tks.ru). In autumn 2025 Gazprom and China's CNPC agreed to raise the annual contract volume from 38 to 44 billion cubic meters, though no timeline for reaching the new level has been disclosed. The pipeline runs roughly 3,000 km; deliveries began in late 2019 from the Chayandinskoye field in Yakutia, with the Kovyktinskoye field in the Irkutsk region added as a resource base in 2022 (tks.ru).

What this means for market participants

Coal suppliers to China should treat the current ~90 million tonnes a year as a baseline — with Chinese generators rapidly adding domestic capacity (78 GW in 2025 alone), further gains in import share may be limited.
Gas traders and logistics operators should watch for Gazprom's announcements on the rollout schedule toward the 44 bcm target on Power of Siberia, since no exact date has yet been set.
Oil market participants can use the record 23% import share and the 67-million-tonne, seven-month 2026 volume as a planning benchmark for the rest of the year.

One caveat: all of these figures come from statements by company executives at the September 4 forum, not from official Russian or Chinese customs statistics.

Primary sources

This material is for information only and does not constitute legal advice or customs consulting. Verify changes against the primary sources before acting.