Russia has begun gas supplies to China via the Power of Siberia pipeline, the largest gas project in its history and a symbol of Moscow’s diplomatic pivot towards Beijing at a time of worsening relations with the west.

Dubbed “the contract of the century” by Russian gas group Gazprom, the $55bn deal with China’s oil and gas major CNPC will eventually allow for 38bn cubic metres in annual gas supplies to China via the 3,000km pipeline that crosses Siberia to the Chinese border in the south-east.

The pipeline will allow Gazprom to significantly increase gas exports amid declining demand and gas prices in its traditional export markets of Europe and Turkey, which buy on average about 200bn cubic metres of gas a year. Work on the pipeline began shortly after the US and the EU introduced the first Crimea-linked sanctions against Russia.