Russia Plans to Export 20-30 Million Tonnes of Oil to China Each Year

Russia plans to export 20-30 million tonnes of oil to China each year. This will be made possible by the Russia-China oil pipeline, the construction of which was discussed today in Shanghai at a meeting between Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov and Chinese Prime Minister Zhu Rongji.

According to the government press service, Zhu Rongji declared that if the project is realised, the volume of oil exported could exceed half of the current level of trade between the two countries. The heads of government also expressed their intention to support the West-East gas pipeline project, which is strategically important for the development of Russian-Chinese cooperation in the gas sector. The participants of the meeting also underlined the importance of beginning collaborative work on nuclear power stations and the atomic fuel cycle.