Russia, China reach $60 b oil supply deal
RUSSIA: Moscow and Beijing have reached agreement on a $60 billion
contract to ramp up Russian oil supplies to China, part of the two
countries’ strategy to tighten their energy partnership, Russian
President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.
“A contract with Rosneft company has been prepared which is
large-scale and unprecedented without any exaggeration,” Putin told
Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli at a meeting in Saint Petersburg,
estimating the value of the deal at more than $60 billion.
In his comments open to the media, Putin did not say when the firm
contract would be signed. A preliminary agreement to gradually raise
Russian oil supplies to China over the next 25 years from their current
level of 15 million tonnes per year was reached during China’s leader Xi
Jinping’s visit to Moscow in March. As part of the deal, Russian oil
state company Rosneft is to receive a $2 billion loan from China.
Russia, which wants to diversify its energy customers away from Europe,
also needs to finalise a potentially huge gas deal with China but a
commercial contract has so far proved elusive as talks have become mired
in pricing disputes.
AFP |