China ready to raise energy cooperation with Russia to new level

BEIJING, Nov 29 (PRIME) -- China is ready to boost energy cooperation with Russia to a new level, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Friday during the Russian–Chinese energy forum.

“The sides have reached fruitful results in the energy sphere over the past few years, which supported social and economic development of the two countries. The Chinese side is ready to work together with the Russian side so that Russia–China energy cooperation reaches a new level of development,” he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a statement read out by oil major Rosneft’s CEO Igor Sechin that energy cooperation of the two countries is rising, while Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said that cooperation is of utmost importance to ensure global energy security as protectionism in global trade expands.

CEO of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) Wang Yilin said that the company wants to expand the scale of its work with Russian companies as well as directions of cooperation. Sinopec’s Vice President Li Yong also said that the company wants to strengthen the joint work with Russian companies in the oil and gas sphere.

Sechin also said that energy cooperation of the two countries has not yet reached its limit, and the two states have all prerequisites to reach a new level in their joint work. Russia and China have to be sure that their joint projects will be in demand, and will bring profits to its participants, but now is a good time for Moscow and Beijing to “synchronize watches” in the energy sector, he said, naming rampant trade protectionism and the trade war as a stimulus for improvements.

The growth of Russian energy supplies can cover China’s demand for energy resources, and Russia’s resource base is fully capable of doing it, but the two countries have to make large-scale and mutual investment to boost cooperation. One of the possible directions is to launch joint projects in production of oil and gas in the Arctic and in the Far East, while another promising opportunity is to build a power grid complex in Russia’s Far East with the goal of power exports to China, he said.

The two countries need to create new infrastructural channels to raise cooperation in the energy sector, and they need to strengthen cooperation between leading banks as well, Sechin added.

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