Russia is exploring opportunities to increase oil exports to China and deepen cooperation on Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), according to Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak’s announcement on Tuesday during a Sino-Russian business forum in Beijing.
Since the start of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, China and India have become Russia’s largest oil buyers. China currently imports approximately 1.4 million barrels per day (bbl/d) of Russian oil by sea and about 900,000 bbl/d via pipeline, as reported by Reuters.
Novak told the forum that Moscow is in talks with Beijing to expand energy trade. “We see prospects for increasing oil supplies via pipeline routes and by sea,” he said, noting that existing intergovernmental agreements allow for extending oil supply terms through Kazakhstan to China until 2033.
Following the forum, Novak met with Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexian, where he reaffirmed Russia’s position as a “reliable supplier of oil and natural gas to China” and emphasized continued efforts to strengthen energy cooperation.
LNG collaboration was also a prominent discussion point. China’s CNPC holds a 20% stake in Russia’s Yamal LNG project, while the Silk Road Fund owns 9.9% of the Novatek-led venture.
Despite recent US sanctions targeting Russia’s two biggest oil producers, Rosneft and Lukoil, President Vladimir Putin downplayed their impact, calling the measures unfriendly but insignificant for the Russian economy. However, sanctions, particularly those imposed on the new Arctic LNG 2 project, have restricted Russia’s LNG export capacity by limiting tanker fleet availability.
Despite these hurdles, China received its first LNG cargo from the sanctioned Russian project at the end of August.
