BEIJING, March 22 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's foreign minister said Wednesday that construction of an oil pipeline from East Siberia to China would start in 2006.
"China has been informed [of the plans], and the feasibility study will be done jointly in short time," said Sergei Lavrov, traveling with President Vladimir Putin on an official visit to China. "We will see the start of the construction very soon this year."
Putin also said the project would be completed, and would help boost oil supplies to energy-hungry China.
"If the project is implemented, which I have no doubts about, it will ensure a dramatic increase in crude supplies from Russia to China," Putin said in an address to a Russian-Chinese economic forum in the Chinese capital.
The mooted $11.5-bln dollar pipeline from East Siberia to the Pacific is slated to pump 1.6 million bbl/d for deliveries to Japan and China, but has been dogged by controversy as its planned route lies very close to Lake Baikal, the world's largest freshwater body. Environmentalists are still seeking to get the route changed, claiming any accident could cause irreparable damage.
State-owned oil major Rosneft said Wednesday it hoped to be involved in pumping oil to China when the pipeline was completed.
"We expect to contribute to filling the pipeline with crude from the Vankor and Talakanskoye deposits [in Siberia] at the end of 2008, when [pipeline monopoly] Transneft finishes construction," Rosneft head Sergei Bogdanchikov told reporters in Beijing.
He said Rosneft had signed an agreement with its Chinese partners to open two joint ventures in Russia and China by yearend. A Russian JV will try to obtain a license for development and production at tenders, and a joint venture in China will construct a refinery.
Rosneft also plans to enter China's gasoline stations market, Bogdanchikov said, adding that the company had proposed that Chinese major China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) "back" its planned IPO. He said Rosneft "is interested in attracting skilled and reliable partners."
Rosneft, Russia's second biggest crude producer, last year announced plans to float shares on the domestic and international markets in a bid to pay off part of its multi-billion debt. Market experts say a sale of up to 30% of company's shares could bring in about $20 bln.
Energy dominated the first day of Vladimir Putin's visit to China, as he pledged to complement oil deliveries to China by massive supplies of natural gas from Siberia.
"We also know the delivery volumes - 30-40 billion cubic meters of gas a year on each project," he said. The president added that both East and West Siberia had enough resources to cope, dismissing skepticism about Russia's ability to honor its delivery commitments to Europe and Asia.
Russia is already a major supplier of crude to the world's second largest consumer, but gas supply routes from Siberia to the Chinese cities of Daqin and Shanshan remain on the drawing board, as does another route from the offshore Sakhalin energy project to the northeastern city of Harbin.
