Why do China and Russia exploit natural gas in the Arctic?

Professor Dong Xiucheng of university of international business and economics: "This is mainly a business activity. For us in China, natural gas needs to grow rapidly, while Russia has energy resources in the Arctic Circle, China has a market and Russia has resources, so the two are complementary. In addition, cooperation with Russia has also promoted the improvement of China's development technology in the polar regions. "

The Yamal project not only brought natural gas, but also a new waterway.

The construction of Yamal Project not only brought natural gas to China, but also provided a new waterway. Through the cooperation with Russian, China has successfully realized the transportation of the Arctic Ocean and opened the Arctic waterway.

The "Silk Road on Ice" is a shipping channel that crosses the Arctic Circle and connects the three economic centers of North America, East Asia and Western Europe. During the construction of Yamal project, more than 60% of modules and components were transported through Bering Strait and Northeast Arctic waterway, with an average time of about 16 days, saving nearly 20 days compared with Suez Canal.

In China, 90% of foreign trade goods are transported by sea. At present, although there are many ocean-going routes in China, the routes to Europe are limited, facing various problems such as cost and safety.

Jiang Qi, general manager of China Petroleum Russian Company, said: "The Arctic northeast waterway is the most direct and convenient transportation channel connecting Asia and Europe. If we can make full use of this Arctic waterway, the future economic and trade cooperation between China and Europe will also reduce many logistics costs and enhance economic cooperation between China and Europe. "

According to the data, once the Arctic Northeast Passage is officially opened, the voyage from the coastal port of China to the east coast of North America will be shortened by 2,000 to 3,500 nautical miles compared with the traditional route of the Panama Canal. The distance from the port north of Shanghai to the ports of Western Europe, North Sea and Baltic Sea will be shortened by 25%-55% compared with the traditional routes, and the international trade shipping cost will be saved by 53.3 billion to 654.38+0274 billion US dollars every year.