Russia and China signed several energy deals Wednesday, but appeared to make little progress on the central issue of sales of Russian gas to China, officials said.
Russia
and
China
signed several energy deals Wednesday, but appeared to make little progress on
the central issue of sales of Russian gas to
China
,
officials said.
The two countries signed agreements on cooperation in coal and electricity
following meetings between top officials in
Moscow
.
Russia, the world's largest energy producer, has been boosting ties to the huge
Chinese economy over the past several years, but the two sides have repeatedly
failed to reach a final agreement on gas supplies amid disagreement over price.
The urgency for
Russia
to
sell its gas to
China
has
increased with falling demand and regulatory pressure in the European Union,
Russia
's
most lucrative market.
In late October, state-controlled gas-export monopoly OAO Gazprom announced it
was accelerating plans to spend $38 billion developing a gas field in the
country's far east and a pipeline leading to a liquefied natural gas plant at
the Pacific
port
of
Vladivostok
.
Discussions are continuing over the price for gas supplies and whether it will
be delivered by pipeline or as LNG, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady
Dvorkovich told reporters Wednesday, Russian wire services reported.
"You know that there are two routes: eastern and western. The eastern
route has alternatives. These are either supplies of liquefied natural gas or
pipeline gas," he said, adding that the two projects aren't mutually
exclusive.
Russia
and
China
also
hailed progress in other energy deals between the countries. Chinese Deputy
Prime Minister Wang Qishan said an agreement would be signed within days on the
construction of the second phase of the Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant, Interfax
reported. Mr. Dvorkovich said
China
had
proposed that
Russia
take
part in the construction of nuclear power plants in third countries.
Russian state-controlled oil firm OAO Rosneft said its chief executive, Igor
Sechin, and Mr. Wang on Tuesday discussed an intergovernmental agreement on
creating favorable conditions for the construction and use of an oil-refining
and petrochemicals plant in
China
.
Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao will meet Thursday with Russian counterpart
Dmitry Medvedev.
Διαβάστε ακόμα
Τρι, 24 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 19:58
Τρι, 24 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 19:54
Τετ, 18 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 18:32
Τετ, 18 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 18:27
Τρι, 17 Σεπτεμβρίου 2024 - 20:01