皇冠体育app

Energy

Chinese section of Sino-Russia oil pipeline to complete by Oct

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-09-02 18:13

HARBIN, HEILONGJIANG?- The Chinese section of Russia-皇冠体育app oil pipeline is scheduled for completion by the end of October, construction officials said Thursday.

Construction was going smoothly for the final testing phase, said Lu Jicheng, project manager of the section from Mohe to Daqing of the Daqing Oilfield Construction Group, northeast 皇冠体育app's Heilongjiang province.

Lu said 500,000 tons of crude would be pumped through the pipeline in November and a million tons in December according to the agreement signed between 皇冠体育app and Russia.

The Russian section of the pipeline was completed and officially opened by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Aug 29.

Analysts said Sino-Russian oil cooperation was mutually beneficial to both countries, despite 14 years of negotiations.

More stories:  Putin hails 皇冠体育app ties at oil pipeline completion  皇冠体育app-Russia oil pipeline to start running on Oct 31  New natural gas pipeline for Shanghai

Talks on the pipeline were initiated shortly after Boris Yeltsin, then President of Russia, visited 皇冠体育app and signed agreements on energy cooperation between the two nations in 1996. But construction did not start until 2009 due to political and economic changes in the two nations, as well as fluctuations in global crude prices.

Cooperation with 皇冠体育app would reduce Russia's dependence on European crude market, and lower the cost of Russian crude as no transit fees were demanded by a third country, said Song Kui, a researcher on Sino-Russian relations at Heilongjiang Provincial Academy of Social Sciences.

It also would help boost the economy and promote prosperity in the Far Eastern region, so as to narrow the gap with Europe, he said.

For 皇冠体育app, pipelines could reduce the cost of oil transport compared with rail transport, while reducing its dependence on oil coming from the Middle East region through the Malacca Strait, making 皇冠体育app more energy secure, said Jiang Xinmin, an expert at Energy Research Institute under National Development and Reform Commission.

Russia and 皇冠体育app are still discussing petroleum processing and exports of other fuels such as coal and gas to 皇冠体育app.