Russian state-owned oil giant Rosneft has agreed to boost crude supplies to China, Rosneft spokesman Vladimir Tyulin said on Tuesday, without specifying the amounts involved or delivery routes.
The deal concludes a three-day visit by Rosneft President Igor Sechin to China.
Rosneft and oil pipeline monopoly Transneft currently deliver 15 million tons of crude to China annually via a Russia-China branch of the East Siberia–Pacific Ocean pipeline under a deal signed in 2009. Deliveries started in 2011. In return for long-term crude supplies, Rosneft received $15 billion and Transneft $10 billion in loans from Chinese banks in 2009.
Rosneft is once again cash-hungry as it absorbs the cost of buying up TNK-BP, the Russo-British joint venture, which is costing it over $50 billion.
China has said on numerous occasions it wants more Russian oil.
An oil industry source previously told Prime news agency Rosneft was considering supplying crude to China via the Atasu-Alashankou pipeline through Kazakhstan.
Rosneft also discussed the possibility of Chinese companies participating in projects to develop hydrocarbon deposits on the Russian continental shelf, Rosneft said in a statement.