Sino-Russian natural gas cooperation : Structure and situation

Sino-Russian natural gas cooperation has an important impact on natural gas trade in both Russia and China. Based on the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI), this paper has established a natural gas import and export security evaluation system to scientifically assess Sino-Russian gas cooperation with respect to the Sino-Russian natural gas structure and situation under the influence of different factors. The research shows: the diversification of natural gas imports in China has gradually increased. China's natural gas imports from Russia are on the rise; When accounting for the export potential of the importing countries, China's HHIC-PE reveals a wavy upward trend after falling to a low in 2008, and then, upon reaching a peak in 2013, it presents a stable, albeit slightly declining, trend; After accounting for price, the overall HHIC-PE-OP declines, rises and declines again; HHIR shows a sharp decline after it increases, and it then rises again; After accounting for the import potential of exporting countries, the Russian natural gas export risk exhibits two M-type declines; The drop in natural gas prices in recent years has had a significant negative impact on Russian natural gas export security; In the next few years, the sharp increase in Sino-Russian natural gas trade volume will increase the import concentration of both Russia and China, which should guard against the rising natural gas import and export risk.