Foreign Correspondence

[Amaunet]

GAZPROM, CHINESE GAS & PETROLEUM CORPORATION AGREE TO EXTEND COOPERATION TO OIL SECTOR

Bush has been trying to get his hands on YUKOS for a long time and now in what may be his worst nightmare the Chinese National Oil and Gas Corporation may be invited to take part in the development of Yuganskneftegaz's assets. Yuganskneftegaz is the main production unit of Yukos.

A previous yet very real outrage for the neocons was how the Khodorkovsky affair sidelined a deal between Exxon-Mobil and Yukos, a deal which would have enormously enriched a professed political enemy of Putin while putting a large chunk of Russia’s energy supply under the CONTROL of an American company. This deal in its entirety would have given an unfriendly foreign power, the United States, seats in the Russian DUMA. This was an attempted invasion; it was treasonous and was tantamount to North Korea or the Chinese sitting in our Congress.
#msg-4872100

The Pentagon is really aiming at Beijing in its grab for the old Soviet strategic space around Russia. China is booming, but energy is her Achilles heel. Economically and technologically, China's 1.3 billion people seem poised to assume superpower status, but China cannot risk falling out with America. Only access to Russian and central Asian oil can liberate China from dependence on vulnerable sea-borne oil supplies, so the real "Great Game" is between Beijing and Washington. America's real strategic fear is the rise of China and India.
#msg-4713195

-Am

GAZPROM, CHINESE GAS & PETROLEUM CORPORATION AGREE TO EXTEND COOPERATION TO OIL SECTOR

2004-12-21 17:59
MOSCOW, December 21 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian natural gas giant Gazprom and the Chinese National Oil and Gas Corporation have agreed to extend their cooperation to the petroleum industry, Sergei Kupriyanov, spokesman for Gazprom's Chief Executive, told RIA Novosti.

"This envisages, among other things, the Chinese side's involvement in oil extraction projects in Russia," Mr. Kupriyanov said in a telephone interview. The two energy majors signed an agreement on cooperation in the gas sector, he recalled.

Speaking Tuesday at a press conference in the German city of Schleswig, Russian President Vladimir Putin, currently in Germany on an official visit, said the Chinese National Oil and Gas Corporation may be invited to take part in the development of Yuganskneftegaz's assets. Yuganskneftegaz, the main production unit of Yukos, was auctioned off this past weekend to cover the embattled oil giant's huge back tax bills.

An energy market analyst told RIA Novosti that a powerful oil & gas company was now being formed on Gazprom's basis. Controlling interest in that new company will belong to the government, with the rest of the stock in private hands. "Which markets the new Gazprom will give priority to will be a determining factor not just for Russia's export structure and its system of foreign economic ties, but also for energy market tendencies on the global scale," he argued.

The analyst, who spoke to RIA Novosti on condition of anonymity, also said that demand for oil on the part of developed countries was growing, but at a slow pace, while the fuel needs of emerging Asian markets, notably China, were soaring. But the global oil output does not keep up with Asia's ever-growing appetite, hence the exorbitant prices.

"The oil prices now remain at their record highs, and most oil analysts predict their further rise in the long term. In this situation, the development of Russo-Chinese cooperation in the oil sector is an issue of fundamental importance not just to Russia and China," our interviewee said.

He argued there was "a strategic decision" behind the signing of the cooperation memorandum between Gazprom and the Chinese National Oil and Gas Corporation, one concerning "the selection of development priorities for the Russian oil industry, at least for its government-controlled part."

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