CNPC\'s annual oil import from Russia to reach 46.1m tonnes

China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), the country\'s largest oil and gas producer and supplier, said Monday that the company\'s future crude oil import from Russia will hit 46.1 million tonnes annually. According to of a long-term agreement released by the CNPC, its yearly crude oil import from Russia through the Sino-Russian pipeline, the eastern line, will increase from the current 15 million tonnes to 30 million tonnes in 2018. The agreement for additional crude oil supply via the eastern pipeline will last 25 years and could be extended for another 5 years. Meanwhile, Russia will supply CNPC with 7 million tonnes of crude oil every year through the Sino-Kazakhstan crude oil pipeline, the western line, for five years starting from Jan. 1, 2014, which could be extended for another 5 years. Russia is also committed to provide another 9.1 million tonnes of crude oil for a joint venture refinery in north China\'s Tianjin, with CNPC and Russian oil giant Rosneft holding 51 percent and 49 percent stakes, respectively. Statistics showed that China imported 24.33 million tonnes of crude oil from Russia in 2012. Besides, CNPC and Russia\'s second largest natural gas producer Novatek signed a framework agreement to buy a 20 percent stake of the Yamal LNG project. With more than 1 trillion cubic meters of natural gas reserves, the project is expected to have the production capacity of 16.5 million tonnes every year. Feng Yujun, director of the Institute of Russian Studies of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said that the cooperation on oil and gas between China and Russia has entered a new stage of joint development. Wang Zhen, deputy director of the institute of Chinese energy strategy in China University of Petroleum, said that CNPC\'s cooperation in the upstream sector of Russian natural gas businesses will help achieve breakthroughs in bilateral negotiation on the natural gas pipeline.