China, Russia ink energy agreements

MOSCOW - China and Russia on Wednesday inked four agreements on energy cooperation.

Following the 9th China-Russia energy negotiators' meeting that opened earlier in the day, the two sides signed a memorandum of understanding in cooperation on energy market assessment, a roadmap on cooperation in the coal sector, the minutes of the meeting on coal cooperation and an agreement on electricity supply.

The four documents were aimed at further enhancing energy cooperation between China and Russia, which has by now yielded fruitful results.

During the meeting which was co-chaired by Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, the two sides agreed to start oil and natural gas cooperation following the principle of upstream and downstream integration.

They also agreed to further expand coal and power trade, undertake research on energy reservation and promote the application of renewable energy.

They will sign an official inter-governmental protocol on the second phase of the TianWan Nuclear Power Plant and push forward cooperation in space nuclear power among other spheres.

Since the establishment of the China-Russia energy negotiation mechanism in 2008, the two sides have held eight official meetings and two working meetings, which facilitated bilateral energy cooperation and generated fruits, said the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

The two sides witnessed fruitful results in energy cooperation this year, according to Chinese National Energy Administration. In the field of oil, the China-Russia crude oil pipeline is functioning smoothly. It is expected that China will import 15 million metric tons of crude oil from the neighboring country in 2012.

Meanwhile, the two countries made progress and showed good momentum in nuclear power cooperation, oil and gas exploration, said the energy administration, adding they also made achievements in the integrated exploration of coal resources among others.