Northern Russia's Sea Road is increasingly valued

Compared with the traditional Suez Canal route.

Russia is arranging more liquefied natural gas vessels to be transported to Asia through the North Sea Road.

Our reporter Zhao Jueyi, a reporter in Russia, Li Linjia ● Liu Zhi

"As the Arctic ice layer gradually melts, more and more freight activities are carried by the North Sea Road of Russia." The British "Independence" reported on the 21st that the navigation through the Arctic is becoming more and more attractive. The length is half of the conventional route. The Russian IZ website said that the Russian shipping was forced to make adjustments because the United States and Europe have closed their ports on Russian ships and implemented imports of Russian coal. In this context, Russia began to look for other ways of cargo transportation. The northern sea road through the Russian Arctic Water has become a way to overcome sanctions. With the strategy of "looking east" in Russia's energy exports, this route has connected the Russian Arctic, the Far East energy projects, and the export destinations of Russian energy in Asia.

Energy export arteries to the east

The Russian KO Network published an article entitled "North Sea Road to the East will be cited to the East" on June 18. The Russian President's Ecological and Environmental Protection and Traffic Special Envoy said at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum. The number of traffic increases by 8%. According to estimates from the Russian Far East and Arctic Development Department, by 2035, the project's contribution to Russia's GDP is expected to be 35 trillion rubles.

The Vice Chairman of the Russian Federal Security Conference, Medvedev posted on a social platform last week that for Russia, it is important to continue to connect with the North Sea Road with the railway and establish a liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage and transportation in high latitudes. system. He pointed out that Russia will gradually expand its cooperation with Asia -Africa and Latinos. Considering these tasks, the first to promote the construction of transportation infrastructure. He also talked about the necessity of Russia's diversification of products from the Arctic, especially the production of promising energy such as ammonia, methanol, and hydrogen.

"Under Western sanctions, the North Sea Road Project has become important again." The Russian "News" reported that Russian President Putin instructed this year to actively build this route. Russian experts believe that Russia's trade focus is moving to the east. This route has become a major arteries for oil and gas exports, re -positioning the flow of goods across Siberia.

The total length of more than 3,000 nautical miles (about 5556 kilometers) on the northern Sea Road of Russia. It connects the Baronzi Sea and the White Ling Strait. It is currently the shortest marine line between Europe and Asia. route. The Russian government plans to increase cargo transportation along the North Sea Road from 35 million tons in 2021 to 80 million tons in 2024, and by 2035 to 150 million tons. The Minister of Russia and the Arctic Development Minister Chekunkov said that the Far East and Arctic regions will produce nearly $ 100 billion in products each year in the next few years. Through this route, it can supply oil and natural gas, metal, and chemical fertilizer to the east. There are large Russian state -owned enterprises that produce liquefied natural gas, petroleum, coal, copper, and gold.

Looking forward to China -India participation

The Russian satellite news agency has previously quoted Russian Petersburg National University Professor Lecxina, saying that in the context of Western sanctions, Russia attaches more importance to the North Sea Road, such as transporting oil and gas resources through this.

According to the Russian "News" report, Russian atomic energy company said that Western sanctions did not affect the transportation along the North Sea Road. In 2022, Russia plans to transport 32 million tons of cargo along the route. By 2024, due to the addition of new mining beds, the amount of transportation is expected to increase to 80 million tons, and by 2030, it is expected to increase to 110 million tons. According to data in 2021, this route mainly transports liquefied natural gas and condensate oil (19.5 million tons), petroleum and petroleum products (7.7 million tons), and technical equipment and building materials for Arctic projects, iron ore concentrates, wood, and wood Coal and so on.

Nicholas Corchunov, Ambassador of the Russian Foreign Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that Russia actively evaluates the role of Chinese companies in the energy project of the Arctic region, including Amal LNG and the "Arctic-2" LPG project. Chinese companies participate in other regional projects. He pointed out that the development of maritime routes in the Arctic region, especially its east, is becoming more and more important for Russia. This also plays an important role in ensuring the uninterrupted operation of the global economy and its supply chain. He added: "In the near future, this development will follow the growing trajectory, which is mainly due to the rapid development of the Asia -Pacific market. It is becoming a real driving force for global economic growth. One of the fields is energy. China is Russia's largest trading partner in imports and exports. We naturally consider this when planning and implementing international cooperation in high -latitude regions. "

Russian media predict that World Energy demand will increase at a rate of 1.3%per year by 2040, and natural gas will become the largest energy source. Therefore, the Siberian region that is rich in oil and gas resources will become more and more attractive. At least by 2030, China and India have a large amount of demand for the main resources of Russia -oil, natural gas, condensate oil, and coal.

Indian Prime Minister Modi said in the Russian Oriental Economic Forum last year that India will cooperate with Russia on the development of northern routes. The Indian Russian energy trade has recently been very popular. The "Voice of the United States" reported on June 20 that within the 20 days of June 15, the coal and related products purchased from Russia have skyrocketed by 60%from the same period last year to 331 million. Dollar. During the same period, India and Russia's crude oil trade rose 31%to $ 2.022 billion. Facing development restrictions

In view of the huge economic benefits of the development of the North Sea Road, experts also urged not to forget the problems that may face during the construction process. Russia's "Business News" reported that the report of Russian economist Mickey Johova at the beginning of this year in 2022 said that the main difficulty facing this route was that the cold climate conditions caused only seasonal navigation. In the future, the construction and global warming of Russia's new ice boat will make the routes longer. In addition, the Arctic region does not have enough resources to quickly cope with the risk of shipping, especially the transport ship's pollution that may cause the environment. At the same time, this route not only requires ships and icebreakers, but also requires a complete land infrastructure -port, refueling, logistics, and human life support facilities. The construction and operation of these infrastructure will require a lot of capital investment.

The "Independence News" quoted an article on the National Academy of Sciences on the 21st that the transportation fee for the current North Sea Road is higher than the transportation cost of the Suez Canal route. Moreover, the transportation volume of the North Sea Road is very small. In 2021, the transportation volume of the year is only 2 days of transportation of the Suez Canal route.

"At present, transportation through Russia's northern sea road is feasible and has great potential." Chinese shipping expert Wu Minghua told the Global Times reporter on the 21st. And the breed of ships is constantly expanding. In 2013, the "Yongsheng" round of the Central Sea was the first Chinese merchant ship to reach Europe to Europe via the Arctic Northeast Channel. When transportation safety is guaranteed, more and more shipping companies have found that this channel has a cost advantage, and various companies have accumulated a lot of experience.

According to Wu Minghua, for Chinese shipping companies, the main restrictions on the northern Russian Sea Road is that the operation time is relatively short. The annual navigation time is concentrated from July to September, and some areas still need to break ice. China Enterprises take this route to provide multiple support for Russia, such as ports, ice -breaking, and rescue in emergency situations. It is also necessary to consider that the export of oil and gas resources in Russia mainly depends on pipeline transportation. In contrast, the cost, safety and transport volume advantages of Arctic shipping are not obvious. ▲

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