Putin and Xi highlight intensified energy ties between Russia and China

Moscow, Nov. 29. The presidents of Russia and China, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, today highlighted the intensification of energy ties between the two countries, which has allowed Moscow to increase turnover by 64% since the beginning of the year and by 10% the volumes of supplies.

"Energy remains one of the key and most dynamic areas of our economic cooperation," Putin said in a message to the participants of the 4th Russian-Chinese Energy Forum.

The Russian leader stressed that recently a very high level of bilateral ties has been secured in the oil and gas, coal and power sectors, large-scale joint projects for nuclear power plants in China, and liquefied natural gas production is being systematically implemented.

Xi, in turn, noted that "China-Russia energy cooperation is the cornerstone of practical cooperation between the two countries" and also serves as "an effective force for protecting global energy security," according to the official TASS news agency.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak reminded that China is becoming the largest consumer of Russian energy.

"This year the turnover of the energy sector has grown by 64 % compared to last year, in physical terms deliveries have grown by about 10 %," he said.

He explained that exports of liquefied natural gas from Russia to China increased by 32 % between January and October compared to the same period last year.

The CEO of the Russian oil company Rosneft, Igor Sechin, explained that currently the volume of liquefied natural gas exported to China from Russia is relatively small, but he predicted an increase in the future similar to that recorded by the supply through pipelines (60% this year, according to his calculations).

China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) Vice President Huang Yongzhang, for his part, stressed that China must continuously increase the volume of Russian gas through the eastern route, which both countries are already working on.

The Far Eastern route project is in the planning stage in terms of its design and cost estimation, while negotiations continue for gas supply through "Siberian Force-2", which will pass through the territory of Mongolia to China.

Gazprom vice-president and general director for Exports Elena Burmistrova explained that the capacity of this second "Siberian Force" will be 50,000 cubic meters per year.

As for oil, the Rosneft chief said that in the first 10 months of the year Russia increased crude oil exports to China by 9.5%, to almost 72 million tons compared to the same period in 2021, a figure that Huang downgraded however to 33 million tons.

Huang said the two countries have extended the agreement on crude oil supplies to western China, which will guarantee the supply of 100 million tons of crude oil.

In the electricity sector, Russia believes that supplies to the neighboring country may increase by 11% by the end of the year, according to Novak.

Sechin said that Inter RAO, the operator of electricity exports and imports in Russia, increased its supplies to China by 33% in the first ten months of the year, to almost 4 billion kilowatt hours. EFE

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