Russia lifts lockdown at China-designated natural gas field

[Tom Kirkman + 8,860]

Coronavirus Belt and Road Initiative getting back on track.  (Sorry, couldn't resist the jab.)

 

Russia lifts lockdown at China-designated natural gas field

MOSCOW, June 1 (Reuters) - Local authorities have fully lifted the coronavirus-related quarantine at Russia’s Chayandinskoye natural gas field, the source of the country’s first pipeline gas supplies to China, the coronavirus response centre said on Monday.

The lockdown at the field in the eastern Yakutia region was introduced in mid-April to contain the spread of the coronavirus. The Siberian gas field was launched in December to move gas supplies via pipeline to China for the first time.

Around 10,000 workers from Russian gas company Gazprom and its contractors are usually engaged at the field.

Stroytransneftegaz, a contractor working for Gazprom at the Chayanda gas field, suspended its works there in early May until lockdown measures are lifted.

Regional governor Aisen Nikolaev lifted all restrictions in a decree published on Monday, effective immediately.

Gazprom said last month its unit Gazprom Dobycha Noyabrsk kept on extracting gas and preparing it for transportation at the Chayanda field as planned.

Russia has been easing restrictions as the spread of infections and rise in deaths from the coronavirus have slowed.

However, the country is still one of the worst-hit by the virus. Russia on Monday reported 9,035 new cases of the novel coronavirus, taking the nationwide tally of infections to 414,878, third-highest after the United States and Brazil. 

[Tomasz + 1,608]

Yes, let me just comment that Russia actually has a lot of coronavirus cases but is in absolute numbers its the second country after the US in the number of tests carried out and per capita is even before the US.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

According to screening, 15% of Moscow residents have antibodies, or 1.8 million people and about in reality only 200,000 thousand infections have been found so far in Moscow. And even about half of these 200.000 found cases doesnt have typical symptoms for coronavirus.

So let me put in perspective - it means about 100.000 people with symptoms and lets say 1.500.000-2.000.000 total real cases in Moscow city.

 For me, two results are most  authorative: total  number of tests per capita and the percentage of positive cases

 It was the USSR who tested on  HIV, of course, without the consent of patient about 150 million of its citizens - all those called to the army, pregnant mothers, hospital patients. And only the lack of funds broke this system in the 90s.

The Russians, moreover, have a lot of traditions in virology, including  as biological weapons from the Cold War, so they probably have knowledge of viruses above average.

Read for example about Vector Center

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Research_Center_of_Virology_and_Biotechnology_VECTOR

 

About russian-chinese relations

There will  be also Power of Siberia II, the second thread exporting 50 billion cubic meters of gas to China, and all those who contest Russian gas in Europe will suddenly find themselves in a situation where Europe must compete for gas from Yamal with China and for quite some time gas prices in Asia have been higher than in Europe.

Edited June 2, 2020 by Tomasz