No dollar value was given to the agreements signed during a
state visit by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, but they included documents
on cooperation in coal, natural gas, nuclear energy and renewable energy.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin told reporters in
Beijing that Russia is in talks with Chinese partners on plans to launch
natural gas supplies to China starting in 2015, according to the state
ITAR-Tass news agency.
"Russia is ready to meet China's full demand in gas,"
Sechin was quoted as saying in the report.
Russian state-controlled gas monopoly Gazprom said that
under that agreement it will supply China with 30 billion cubic meters of gas
annually for 30 years starting in late 2015. The final deal is expected to be
signed next summer, Gazprom said.
Sechin said that if talks with China on gas supplies went
well, Russia could sign commercial contracts by the middle of next year,
ITAR-Tass said.
Russian news agency Interfax cited Russian Energy Minister
Sergei Shmatko as saying that "in my opinion, the main terms of (gas)
supplies, apart from the price, have been agreed upon." Russia is the
world's biggest energy producer and China is the world's largest energy
consumer, overtaking the United States last year.
Although Europe remains Russia's largest export market for
gas and oil, both Beijing and Moscow have been seeking to diversify their
energy sources and markets, despite a long history of mutual suspicion and
tensions.
Efforts by China and Russia to establish gas ties have been
stalled for years, mainly because of disagreement over pricing. While Russia is
eager to link gas prices for China to oil prices in the way it does in Europe,
China views any European-level prices as too high.
Gazprom's statement made no mention of possible routes for
the supply, but the company has been long working on the Altai pipeline
project, which would link energy-rich Western Siberia with Shanghai.
Gazprom announced in 2006 that it would build two gas
pipelines to China, but these plans have been upset by disagreement over future
gas prices.
Turkmenistan, however, is enjoying a head start, with China
set to become the largest buyer of gas from the central Asian country over the
coming years as a pipeline linking the two countries reaches full capacity.
Deliveries began earlier this year and are expected to hit 40 billion cubic
meters in 2015.
Medvedev is on a three-day visit that started Sunday. He met
Chinese President Hu Jintao for talks Monday and praised closer ties with
China.
"I believe that the contact between the two countries
is completely in the interest of the Russian and Chinese peoples,"
Medvedev said in opening remarks.
Hu hailed a "new era" in partnership. "Both
sides believe that the current strategic partnership between China and Russia
stands at a new starting point," the Chinese leader said at the end of
talks.
Hu and Medvedev also attended a ceremony in Beijing to mark
the completion of a 625-mile (1,000-kilometer) crude oil pipeline from eastern
Siberia to China, which connects Russian oil fields with Daqing, a major oil
production base in northeastern China. In late August, Russia opened its
section of the pipeline.
The pipeline is part of a deal signed last year in which
China will provide a $25 billion loan to Russia in exchange for 15 million tons
of oil annually (300,000 barrels per day) for 20 years.
Russia and China fell out bitterly 50 years ago over
interpretations of communist ideology. In recent years, their relationship has
warmed but they remain divided by culture and a preference in both capitals for
acting independently.