Putin orders new oil and gas infrastructure plans, lambasts Western sanctions

Russian President Vladimir Putin on April 14 ordered government ministers to draw up new plans for an expansion of oil and gas infrastructure to enable access to "prospective" markets and a shift from countries imposing sanctions on Moscow, state media reported.

In an online meeting, Putin lambasted countries trying to sideline Russian energy resources in response to the invasion of Ukraine, saying "Attempts by Western countries to push aside Russian suppliers, replace our energy resources with alternative supplies, will inevitably be reflected in the whole world economy," according to the TASS news agency. He accused Western countries of shifting the blame for ill-thought-out energy transition plans onto Russia.

Putin said some buyers of Russian hydrocarbons were falling behind on payments due to blockages by banks in what he called "unfriendly countries" following the sanctions escalation. The payment problems underscored the need for importers of Russian energy to switch to paying in rubles, he said.

He said the country would need more pipelines and other infrastructure to reach new markets for its oil and gas.

Putin also ordered efforts to increase the energy sector's self-sufficiency, including creating a centralized system for meeting the industry's supply chain needs from domestic manufacturing sources and a switch to Russian industry standards and certification.

It comes as countries around Europe are moving at varying speeds to limit Russian energy imports, including via Soviet-era pipelines such as the Druzhba crude route into Europe, and the abandonment of the Nord Stream 2 gas project via the Baltic Sea.

Export infrastructure

The EU has also stepped up sanctions by banning exports of technology viewed as vital for Russia's oil refining industry.

Putin told ministers they should present "a project for long-term oil and gas infrastructure development" as part of work on a new long-term energy strategy.

"For the export of energy resources it's necessary to speed up the realization of infrastructure projects — rail, pipelines and ports that already in the coming years will enable a redirection of oil and gas from the West to prospective markets to the south and east," he said, quoted by TASS.

"It's important to look in future, together with the oil and gas companies, at forming a plan for broadening export infrastructure to the countries of Africa, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region... including the need for construction of new oil and gas pipelines from the fields of Western and Eastern Siberia."

Increasing crude loading capacity in the Arctic and Far Eastern Russia would also be important, he added.

Putin's push for self-sufficiency in the energy sector comes as the country has said it will suspend the publication of monthly oil production and export statistics used by market observers around the world.