"All our obligations related to international agreements on deliveries of oil, natural gas and electricity will be fully carried out," said Alexander Zhukov. "This concerns our cooperation with China, as well."
Zhukov, who is heading a Russian delegation currently visiting China in preparation for a November 9-10 visit of Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov to the fast-developing Asian state, said Monday that Russia and China will sign 17 cooperation agreements in various spheres, including energy deliveries.
He said an agreement between Russia's electricity monopoly, Unified Energy Systems (RTS:EESR), and the Chinese State Power Corporation (CSPC) on large-scale provisions of Russian electricity to China will be one of the key documents signed during Fradkov's visit.
Under a new agreement, Russia's electricity exports to China could total 60 billion kWh per year, with up to 4.3 billion kWh delivered annually during the first phase of the electricity supply project (2008-2010), a source in the Russian delegation said earlier.
Zhukov also said Russia's state-run Rosneft oil company will sign an agreement on a strategic partnership with China's second-largest oil producer, Sinopec.
Rosneft concluded a deal with Sinopec earlier this year that will give it a 51% stake in the oil producer Udmurtneft. The Chinese corporation will finance the deal, which the Russian oil company will repay from the new asset's earnings.
According to some estimates, Russia will deliver a total of 11 million tons (about 81 million barrels) of oil to China via the East Siberian railway in 2006, but said it wants to increase the annual volume of deliveries to 219 million barrels in a few years, once construction of its first pipeline to Asia is completed.
