Russia, China may sign energy, other deals amid Moscow tensions with West

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Russia, China may sign energy, other deals amid Moscow tensions with West

Feb 4, 2022: According to a report by Reuters, Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week when he attends the Beijing Winter Olympics and may try to deepen trade ties in energy and other fields at a time when tensions are on the rise between Moscow and the West over Ukraine.

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said Putin and Xi could sign 15 agreements that would cover energy deals that cover Russia, the world’s largest oil and gas exporter, and China, the world’s largest energy consumer.

Ushakov did not give details in his comments on Wednesday, although China may be keen to secure more gas from Russia to use as a transition fuel in its shift away from dirtier coal, which produces more greenhouse gas emissions.

China is Russia’s top export market after the European Union. Russian imports to China were worth $79.3 billion in 2021, with oil and gas accounting for $44.58 billion, or 56%, according to China’s customs agency.

In the energy sector, Russia, Beijing’s No. 3 gas supplier, exported 16.5 billion cubic metres (bcm), or about 12.07 million tonnes, of the fuel to China in 2021, meeting about 5% of Chinese demand, sent via pipeline or shipped on LNG tankers. China, which overtook Japan last year as the world’s largest buyer of LNG, imported 4.53 million tonnes of LNG worth $2.78 billion from Russia in 2021.

On the currency front meanwhile, China and Russia both say they want to increase the global role of their currencies and reduce reliance on the U.S. dollar. China has been using its Belt and Road Initiative to promote trade in the yuan and has signed local currency swap agreements with many participating countries, including Russia.

Both China and Russia have also been developing alternatives to SWIFT, the international payment network. Beijing has been encouraging the use of its homegrown alternative, known as the CIPS clearing and settlement services system.

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