Russia, China sign landmark oil pipeline deal
RUSSIA: Russia and China on Tuesday signed a long-awaited deal to
build an oil pipeline from Siberia to China after talks between Prime
Minister Wen Jiabao and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
The leaders watched as Chinese state energy major CNPC and Russian
state pipeline monopoly Transneft signed the deal to build the pipeline
from the Siberian town of Skovorodino to the Chinese border.
The pipeline agreed on Tuesday would have a capacity of 15 million
tons of oil per year and would be a branch of the main East
Siberia-Pacific Ocean trunk pipeline, which is still under construction,
officials said.
“We should deepen cooperation in the energy sphere. Long-term
cooperation will help economic development and stability on world
markets,” Wen said at the opening of a Russia-China business conference
with Putin in Moscow.
Even after lengthy negotiations on energy ties between the two
neighbours, Russia is still only the fifth-largest exporter of crude oil
to energy-hungry China, despite being the world’s number two producer
after Saudi Arabia. Amid lower energy prices, analysts say China is now
seizing its chance.
“We have to aim for real results. We’ve discussed this for many years
but the results do not correspond to what they should be for two
neighbouring powers,” Zhang Guobao, China’s top energy official, told
the conference.
“We need to build oil and gas pipelines, increase downstream and
upstream cooperation and increase cooperation in the nuclear sphere,”
said Zhang, head of China’s State Energy Bureau, speaking through a
Russian interpreter.
The length of the pipeline to the Chinese border would be around 70
kilometres (44 miles). The pipeline is then planned to link into the
Chinese pipeline network to reach the oil hub of Daqing in northern
China.
Russian newspapers on Tuesday also reported that talks were underway
for a multi-billion dollar credit from the Chinese government to
Transneft and Russian state-run oil company Rosneft that would help
boost energy exports.
MOSCOW, Wednesday, AFP
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