BEIJING - Russia agreed to supply gas to China via two pipelines Tuesday, while the two sides signed other deals valued at $3.5 billion.
The deals came as Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao promised to promote oil and energy cooperation and build on the two nations’ “strategic and practical cooperation”.
The two largest deals, each worth $500 million, were loans from the China Development Bank and the Agricultural Bank of China to Russia’s national development bank, VEB, and its second-largest bank, VTB, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov said.
China said 12 deals were signed in total including a memorandum of understanding on high-speed trains and an agreement on mutual notification of launches of ballistic missiles and carrier rockets.
Under a framework agreement on natural gas, Russia would supply China via two Gazprom pipelines from western Siberia, Russia’s far east, and the offshore Sakhalin fields to China, Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency reported.
The agency quoted Gazprom head Alexei Miller as saying the framework deal “envisages options of western and eastern routes” for the supply of up to 70 billion cubic metres of Russian gas annually.
“The western option can be implemented within a very short time period because Gazprom currently has a large resource base, prepared reserves and developed infrastructure in West Siberia,” Miller was quoted as saying.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin said gas deliveries to China were “tentatively planned for 2014-2015″.
Russia would hold negotiations on pricing and delivery of the gas early next year, the agency quoted Sechin as saying.
Wen and Putin agreed to promote further energy and oil cooperation and work for the completion of a planned oil pipeline to China next year.
The two leaders attended a signing ceremony for the agreements and were scheduled to address an evening celebration to mark the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and the former Soviet Union.
The two sides also signed agreements covering construction, roads and energy-saving at a Beijing business forum, Zhukov said.
He said customs officials had agreed to form a working group “to improve customs clearing procedures to make Chinese imports to Russia transparent”.
Chinese state media said an agreement was signed covering oil cooperation, but no immediate details were available.
Earlier reports said a deal was possible on building an oil refinery in the northern city of Tianjin between the China National Petroleum Corporation and Russia’s Rosneft.
The China Daily newspaper on Tuesday said other planned deals included one for telecommunications equipment valued at $200 million, and four agreements for the building of cement plants.
The newspaper quoted Tan Jijun, an expert at the China Foreign Affairs University, as saying that Russia appeared keen for more deals with China to help it recover from the global crisis.
“Facing the financial crisis, Russia is particularly eager to develop its trade and business with China in a wide range of areas, including not only the energy cooperation but also in the high-tech sector,” Tan said.
Putin was also scheduled to attend a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a Central Asian security grouping, Wednesday.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization was founded in 2001 to enhance security cooperation between its six member states China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Bilateral trade value between Russia and China reached $56.83 billion last year, but fell to $17 billion in the first half of 2009.
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