RF to start crude deliveries to China (15 mln t annually) in 2011.

15/10 Tass 232

MOSCOW, October 15 (Itar-Tass) - Russia will start deliveries of crude
to China, amounting to 15 million tonnes annually, from 2011, said on
Thursday Russian Ambassador to China Sergei Razov in a Moscow-Beijing TV
hook-up.

"The agreement on crude deliveries to China is a breakthrough in this
sphere," the diplomat said. "A provision is made for building a siding
from the trunk pipeline to the border with China. Incidentally, the entire
linear part has already been built ahead of time."
According to the ambassador, under the project Russian companies have
received a credit of 25 billion US dollars. Provision is also made for
building an oil refinery.
Turning to the results of the Chinese visit by Prime Minister Vladimir
Putin, the ambassador said: "A road map has been drafted. This document
envisages deliveries of Russian gas via the Altai Mountains and the
Russian Far East. Deliveries will be made till 2015 along the Altai route
and after 2015 - across the Far East."
The diplomat pointed to the unique resources in that region. Razov
noted at the same time that the project would be implemented in a shorter
priod of time along the Altai route thanks to the diversified network of
gas pipelines there.
There are some problems in the eastern direction, caused above all by
the task of bringing gas to the Russian Primorye Territory.
Turning to the agreement, concluded between Gazprom and the Chinese
National Oil and Gas Corporation, the ambassador noted, "Pricing is the
most important thing in the document". "This is the key issue, since a gas
price will be pegged on the basis of the Asian oil price," Razov explained.
"We look with optimism at these agreements; it is a movement in the
right direction."
-0-bur/gor