Further energy cooperation between China and Russia. Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit to China to attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games on Feb 4. During the visit, relevant departments and enterprises of the two sides signed a series of cooperation documents, including the Purchase and Sale Agreement of Far East Natural Gas between China National Petroleum Corporation and Gazprom Of Russia, and the Supplementary Agreement 3 to the Crude Oil Purchase and Sale Contract for Ensuring Oil Supply to Refineries in Western China.



This time, China national petroleum group co., LTD. (hereinafter referred to as CNPC) with gazprom (hereinafter referred to as the Russian gas company) signed between China and the far east of LNG supply agreement, is following the December 2019 sino-russian eastern gas after the gas pipeline operation, the two sides in the pipeline gas trade has made another important cooperation.



Le Yucheng, Vice Foreign Minister of China, said in an interview with the media on February 4 that the Far East Natural Gas supply and Marketing Agreement signed by companies of the two countries has become another landmark cooperation in the energy sector following the East Route natural gas pipeline, providing a new guarantee for China to achieve its dual carbon goals.



The China-Russia East Route natural gas pipeline is the third trans-border long distance natural gas pipeline to supply gas to China, following the Central Asia Pipeline and china-Myanmar pipeline. In May 2014, CNPC and Gazprom signed the Purchase and Sales Contract for Gas Supply from the Eastern Route between China and Russia, which agreed on a total gas supply of over 1 trillion cubic meters and an annual gas supply of 38 billion cubic meters for 30 years. China-russia eastern air source from the Russian far east secco vick, just the gold fields, such as through the territory of Russia "Siberian power" pipeline, period in China since the heihe sino-russian border, at the end of the station is located in Shanghai, through nine provinces, the first 5 billion cubic metres of gas per year, ultimately reached 38 billion cubic meters of gas per year. On December 2, 2019, the East-route China-Russia natural gas pipeline was officially put into operation, with the volume of gas transported increasing year by year.



The newly signed agreement means that gazprom's annual gas supply to petrochina will be further increased. China is now the world's largest importer of natural gas, and under carbon-peak and carbon-neutral targets, natural gas is expected to continue to grow steadily over the next 20 years, making it the most important market for the world's largest gas suppliers.



The agreement is the second long-term gas supply contract signed by Russia and Russia via the "Far East Pipeline", according to gazprom's announcement on February 4. With the completion of the pipeline, Gazprom's annual gas supply to China will increase by 10 billion cubic meters, bringing the total to 48 billion cubic meters a year with the addition of the Power of Siberia pipeline.



Gazprom also said it completed a feasibility study on the Construction of the Soyuz Vostok gas pipeline in January 2022. The Soyuz Vostok pipeline is an extension of Russia's "Power of Siberia 2" pipeline in Mongolia. The project is planned to deliver gas to China via Mongolia. If it goes ahead, Gazprom will supply China with an additional 50 billion cubic meters of pipeline gas per year.



In late January, The Global Times quoted Liu Gan, executive deputy director of the Center for Russian Central Asian Studies at China University of Petroleum in Beijing, as saying that there were several pipeline projects under negotiation at that time. First, the pipeline was called "Power of Siberia 2" by Russia, namely the Russia-Mongolia-China pipeline. Second, the China-Russia far East natural gas pipeline. From Vladivostok to China, the source of natural gas is Sakhalin. The third is the China-Russia western pipeline, which runs from Siberia to Xinjiang. Construction of the pipeline has not begun after lengthy negotiations between the two sides since 2006. Russia later proposed the "Power of Siberia 2" pipeline on the basis of the western route. Fourth, the "eastern route" will increase the annual capacity of the "Power of Siberia" pipeline from 38 billion cubic meters to 44 billion cubic meters. This is not part of the new pipeline, but some additional compressor stations and ancillary facilities are required.



On February 4, CNPC also signed a supplementary agreement with Rosneft to guarantee the supply of oil to refineries in western China. As of January 2022, CNPC imported more than 300 million tons of pipeline crude oil and more than 15 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Russia, the company said. The signing of the above-mentioned cooperation documents will further consolidate the energy passage between Northeast and northwest China and lay a solid foundation for deepening the long-term cooperation between China and Russia in the oil and gas field.



Rosneft said it signed a 10-year deal with China National Petroleum Corp. to supply 100 million tons of crude oil to China via Kazakhstan. The plant in northwest China will process crude oil to meet the country's demand for petroleum products.



Energy cooperation has always been the most important, fruitful and wide-ranging area of china-Russia cooperation. In addition to oil and gas trade, Chinese and Russian companies have also cooperated in yamal and ARCTIC LNG 2, two world-class LNG projects in the Arctic region, in recent years.



Nuclear energy cooperation is a traditional priority area of cooperation between China and Russia. Cooperation on major nuclear power projects between China and Russia began in the 1990s. In May 2021, units 7 and 8 of The Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant in Lianyungang city, Jiangsu Province, and Units 3 and 4 of the Xudabao Nuclear Power Plant in Huludao City, Liaoning Province, were officially launched. The four units are important projects in the bilateral nuclear energy cooperation package agreement witnessed by the two heads of state in June 2018. Upon completion and operation, they will generate 37.6 billion kilowatt hours of electricity annually, equivalent to reducing 30.68 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually.