PM participates in opening oil pipeline section from RF to China.

29/8 Tass 25

SKOVORODINO, August 29 (Itar-Tass) - Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
participated on Sunday in opening a section of the oil pipeline from
Russia to the border with China.
Speaking at the start of filling up the Russian section with oil,
Putin said, "An idea of a project emerged some six years ago". "I remember
how Chinese President Hu Jintao raised the question on implementing this
project during one of his Moscow visits. At the time, discussion was
underway, where the route of the project would run: north or south of Lake
Baikal, where specifically," Putin said.
He also added: "We said at the time that those questions were not easy
ones, there are many of them, but all of them will be resolved. I hope
that our Chinese friends will tell the Chinese president and the prime
minister about this event and that the Russian side has completed the
project."
"On the other hand, Chinese friends should do quite a bit. There is
great work for them in store: they have to lay down 930 kilometres of
pipeline - all these are highly technological operations. But I'm quite
sure that Russian oil will flow to China this year," Putin emphasised.
"These are not just deliveries of energy raw materials to China; this
is indeed a diverse project, which has cemented our energy partnership,"
the premier said.
He also noted "Chinese partners participate in the production in the
Russian territory, while Russian enterprises are stockholders of oil
processing factories in China and the distribution network".
"This is an important project for us, since we diversify deliveries of
our strategic commodities. Until now, the main deliveries were made to
Europe, to our European partners. This means that 120-130 million tonnes
of Russian oil flows to Europe," the premier emphasised.
"A small quantity has been delivered so far to the Asia-Pacific
region, but we shall deliver 30 million tonnes of oil with the launching
of this section through the eastern pipeline system to the Pacific coast;
and with its expansion - to 50 million tonnes," Putin stated.
He underlined that this was already "a tangible competition to the
European route". "The implementation of this project is an important work
also for our Chinese friends and for Russia. For China, these are stable
deliveries to the country's energy balance, and for us - an exit to new
promising markets and in this particular case, to the expanding Chinese
market," the Russian government head noted.
"Sure, our cooperation with China is not limited only to
hydrocarbons," Putin continued. "Of great importance also is the
partnership in military and technical cooperation, which is worth many
hundred millions of dollars. Deliveries of manufactures are on the rise."
"If we are to speak about energy, Russia is China's main partner in
peaceful uses of nuclear energy; deliveries of nuclear equipment run into
billions of dollars." "The German Siemens Company makes its contribution
to our cooperation with China," the premier stressed.
He also noted, "all the work in this region for Russia makes sense,
when it is aimed at developing the Russian Far East; and the
implementation of this project makes an impressive contribution to
resolving this task".
"A total of 700 billion roubles are invested into work of laying the
pipeline to the Pacific coast. As many as 7,000 specialists will work on
this section alone; out of the total, 5,000 are among local population.
The 700 billion roubles will be used for construction of the oil pipeline,
development of infrastructure, highways and power grids," the prime
minister went on to say.
He thanked the builders for creating this important project under
rigorous climatic conditions, which points to their high professionalism.
-0-bur/kud