BEIJING, November 3 (RIA Novosti) - Russia and China intend to sign an agreement to build a joint oil pipeline as soon as possible, the Chinese prime minister said Thursday. "In the energy sector, both sides are eager to sign an agreement on the Russian-Chinese pipeline as soon as possible," Wen Jiabao said at a news conference concluding the tenth regular meeting of the two countries' prime ministers.
Jiabao also said the countries planned to carry out projects on the joint development of natural deposits.
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov said the sides were working actively on the oil issue.
"After this issue has been studied, real proposals will be put forward regarding the economy and technology," Fradkov said.
He added that last year China received about 5.8 million metric tons of oil from Russia and that about 8 million tons would be supplied this year.
"We are trying to honor our obligations," Fradkov said, adding that such projects offered investment opportunities.
The premier said there were also joint projects in the natural gas sector, machine-building, and electric power.
He said Russia and China planned to sign a new agreement in 2006 on investment protection and promotion. "We are ready, for example, to build all nuclear- and thermo-power plants here," Fradkov said.
Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov, who met with Chinese officials and businessmen in Beijing Wednesday, signed a protocol with his Chinese counterpart Wu Yi to double Russian oil exports to China by rail to reach at least 15 million metric tons a year beginning in 2006.
The protocol also urges Russian state-run oil major Rosneft and China's National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) to complete studies on the possibility of building an oil pipeline from Siberia to China.
Russia is already implementing a project to build an oil pipeline from Eastern Siberia to the Amur region near the Chinese border to pump oil to the Asia-Pacific region. Russian pipeline monopoly Transneft and CNPC are currently in talks to build a pipeline segment from the Amur region to China. However, there are environmental concerns about prospecting near Lake Baikal, which is one of UNESCO's World Heritage sites.
