China may agree to Russia’s plan to connect an extra pipeline to Japan to the Sino-Russia line, as long as it guarantees adequate supplies for China, a Chinese official said. This is the first time China has aired its opinion on the dispute which erupted when Russian companies suggested late last year scrapping the Angarsk-Daqing plan and laying a much longer pipeline to Japan. In early February, a compromise proposal was put forward, which would build the 2,400-km line to China first. Later links would be added from the Siberian city of Chita to Russia’s port of Nakhodka to supply Japan, South Korea, and even the United States. The ambitious plan involves an investment of more than US$5 billion.
The official said: “We are not against the (new) proposal. [Provided] they guarantee our supply as we have agreed, the addition of other pipelines is totally their (Russia’s) business.”
The pipeline was originally designed to deliver 20 million tons of oil annually from Angarsk to Daqing from 2005, rising to 30 million tons by 2010. The official was upbeat about the future of the project, calling it the most important deal between the two neighbours for at least two decades. “Personally, I believe we can make it. Both China and Russia have done a lot of work since 1994,” the official said. “But it now depends on Russia’s plans, as well as negotiations between the Chinese and Russian governments.” The Russian Government is due to decide the issue at a cabinet meeting on 13 March.
China hopes the Angarsk-Daqing pipeline will ease its oil shortages and reduce its heavy reliance on imports from the Middle East. The compromise plan seems to be the most favoured option, with Russia’s Ministry of Energy describing it as in the “national interest”.
