MOSCOW, May 14 (RIA Novosti) – The head of Russia's largest oil company Rosneft met with a senior Chinese energy official on Wednesday to discuss joint cooperation projects with China's state-owned giants Sinopec and the China National Petroleum Corporation, Rosneft said in a statement.
“The sides said they were satisfied with the level of cooperation, marking a common intention to develop and expand partnership,” the Moscow-based company said in a statement after talks between Igor Sechin and Wu Xinxiong, the director of the Chinese National Energy Administration.
Rosneft is involved in a number of projects with its Chinese partners.
In October last year, Rosneft and China’s national oil giant CNPC signed a memorandum on establishing a joint venture for upstream developments in East Siberia, with Rosneft holding 51 percent and CNPC the remaining 49 percent.
The joint venture will develop the Srednebotuobinsk field, with Rosneft’s Taas Yuriakh unit holding the license for the field’s development. The Russian company has also reached an agreement with Sinopec to supply 10 million tons of oil per year during a 10-year period.
In February, Sechin said Rosneft could strike a deal with its Chinese partners to establish a joint venture on extracting oil in Russia, including on the continental shelf.
Preparations are underway for the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Shanghai next week to cement economic ties with China, including on energy. During the visit, Russia and China could agree on long-term gas supplies and increasing oil supplies.
The current standoff between Russia and the EU over Crimea is likely to give an impetus to Moscow’s long-awaited deal on exporting up to 60 billion cubic meters of gas per year via the eastern route to China, the largest market for Russian gas in the Asia-Pacific region.
