Rosneft, CNPC Expand Cooperation into LNG Sector

Russia's Rosneft and China National Petroleum Corporation have signed an agreement to deepen their strategic partnership, including through developing joint LNG projects and accelerating work on a joint refinery construction, the Russian company said Monday.

"The parties intend to apply joint efforts to expand the strategic cooperation, including in the LNG sector, which embraces potential Russian LNG supplies to China," it said in a statement.

The agreement was signed during a visit by China's Premier Li Keqiang to Moscow, with Rosneft's CEO Igor Sechin and CNPC vice president Wang Dongjin inking the deal in the presence of Russia's Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

Russia has been actively developing ties with China over the last few years to diversify its energy export markets away from Europe, and the pace of its reorientation seems to have accelerated in recent months against the backdrop of the ongoing standoff between Western countries and Russia over Moscow's role in the Ukrainian crisis.

（Platts  Edited by Topco)