OREANDA-NEWS. September 21, 2010. Beijing hosted today the 8th meeting of the Joint Coordinating Committee (JCC) between Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) under the chairmanship of Alexander Ananenkov, Deputy Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee and Wang Dongjin, Vice President of CNPC.

The JСС addressed the crucial issues of natural gas supply arrangement from Russia to China under the prioritized project stipulating deliveries via the western area of the Russian-Chinese border.

The meeting considered the results of the joint study concerned with gas chemical production arrangement in Eastern Russia, approved the work aimed at personnel development in training centers and production facilities of the companies and heard the information relevant to execution of the Sci-Tech Cooperation Agreement.
Background

China National Petroleum Corporation is the largest state-owned petroleum corporation of China (participation of the Government – 100 per cent) and is one of the leading integrated oil and gas production companies of the world.

CNPC was incorporated in 1998 on the platform of the former PRC Ministry of  Petroleum Industry. Today this company consists of entities engaged in petroleum exploration, development, production, transmission and storage, as well as oil refining, petrochemicals and scientific research. CNPC is the largest crude oil producer and supplier retaining a dominating position in petroleum production, processing and marketing in China. CNPC and its subsidiaries supply 79 per cent of the domestic oil market, control 95 per cent and 40 per cent of the PRC’s natural gas and petrochemical markets, respectively being involved in 28 international investment projects.

Gazprom and CNPC signed the Agreement of Strategic Cooperation on October 14, 2004 in Beijing within the official visit of the Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin to the PRC. The Agreement covers a wide range of joint businesses including examination of the issues relative to the arrangement of Gazprom’s natural gas deliveries to the PRC. The Joint Coordinating Committee was set up to steer the Agreement implementation. The Committee resolved to set up the Joint Working Group to ensure execution of the Agreement in parallel with working groups for major joint businesses.

In October 2008 the Sci-Tech Cooperation Agreement was signed between Gazprom and CNPC.

In June 2009 the Governments of Russia and China signed the Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation in the natural gas sector. In October 2009 Alexey Miller, Chairman of Gazprom’s Management Committee visited China and signed the Framework Agreement “On major terms and conditions for natural gas supply from Russia to China” in the course of negotiations with the CNPC President Jiang Jiemin.