Russia and China are discussing possible joint projects to develop hydrocarbon reserves in third countries, Russia's energy minister Sergei Shmatko said Friday. "I expect that in 2011 we will start discussing concrete projects," he told reporters in Moscow. When asked about the possible region for cooperation, Shmatko said it would not necessarily be limited to the Asian region. "It could be Africa or Latin America. I don't see any limits," he said. Shmatko said that both Russia and China see joint developments in third countries as an interesting direction to develop cooperation adding that Russia has been in talks with key Chinese companies, including CNPC and Sinopec. Moscow and Beijing have the same strategic interests, Shmatko said. "China is interested in long-term secured supplies of hydrocarbons while we are interested in [earning money through the] use of our experience and technology in joint exploration and production of hydrocarbons in third countries," he said. Shmatko highly praised the 20-year contract between Russia's Rosneft and CNPC, under which the Russian company is to start 300,000 b/d supplies to China in January 2011. The long term contracts provide greater stability and predictability, Shmatko said. "The more contracts we have based on long-term agreements, the less grounds there will be for [price] speculations," he said. Russia and China are developing a number of joint energy projects, including upstream projects in Russia and downstream projects in China. The two also plan to finalize the long-lasting talks on supplies of up to 70 Bcm/year of Russian gas to China in the middle of 2011.

Source