Russia’s deputy prime minister has said the construction of two gas pipelines from Russia to China will attract up to $94bn in direct investment, news agency TASS reports.

Writing in the journal Energy Policy, Alexander Novak said building Power of Siberia 2 and the “Far Eastern” pipelines would require up to $67bn in direct investment and $27bn in related industries, such as metallurgy, cement and chemicals.

Novak said Russia needed to “diversify export structures” following the loss of its European markets. Before the Ukraine invasion, this accounted for 49% of Russia’s external gas sales.

He added that Russian supplies to China through the 3,968km Power of Siberia 1 had increased 48% in 2022, reaching a record of 15.4 billion cubic metres (bcm) over the year.

Russian state energy company Gazprom hopes to start delivering up to 50 bcm of gas using the 2,600km Siberia 2 line by 2030.

The Far Eastern line is at an early stage of development. Gazprom signed an agreement with China National Petroleum Corporation in February last year, and the two countries agreed a draft intergovernmental agreement at the end of January, including a provision to make payments in rubles and yuan.

Power of Siberia 2 will carry gas from Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk regions across Mongolia. The Far Eastern route will come from the Sakhalin islands north of Japan.