Russia/China-related News

Discussion in 'International News' started by teammellieIRANfan, May 23, 2014.

  1. teammellieIRANfan

    Feb 28, 2009
    Club:
    Perspolis
    Nat'l Team:
    Iran
    Russia signs 30-year deal worth $400bn to deliver gas to China
    Experts warn that deal is likely to increase cost of gas in Europe and add to pressure to find alternative sources of fue
    Russia and China have signed a 30-year, $400bn (£237bn) deal for Gazprom to deliver Russian gas to China in a deal that underscores Russia's shift towards Asia amid strained relations with the west.

    The contract to provide 38bn cubic metres of gas each year was signed by the state-owned gas companies Gazprom and CNPC (China National Petroleum Corporation) in the presence of the countries' leaders,Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, at the end of Putin's two-day visit to Beijing.

    The Russian president – who has been pushing to close the deal after almost a decade of negotiations – called the agreement "the largest in the gas sphere during the era of the USSR and Russia".

    But one British energy expert warned that the move could drive up prices for European gas consumers who are becoming increasingly dependent on Russia and now face competition for supplies.

    Aled Jones, director of the Global Sustainability Institute at Anglia Ruskin University, warned that the Britain had the equivalent of only three years of North Sea gas left on the basis of current consumption and without the use of imports. "Russia's new pipeline to China will increase competition for natural gas from 2018 and will most likely increase the cost we pay for natural gas here in the EU. It will certainly increase the pressure on European countries to find alternative gas supplies," he said.

    Alexei Miller, chief executive officer of Gazprom, said the price of gas under the contract, which was reportedly agreed at 4am Beijing time, was a commercial secret, but it is estimated to be over $400bn.

    By all indications, the Chinese managed to achieve a lower price than the Russians had wanted, and the deal will mean a loss for Russia, at least for the first several years after operations start in 2018.

    According to Vladimir Milov, a former deputy energy minister who is director of the Moscow-based Institute of Energy Policy, the Russian government wanted to open new markets in reaction to increasingly hostile relations with the west over the Ukraine crisis. Whereas the US and the EU have threatened economic sanctions against Russia, China has refused to take a side in the conflict and remains more independent from US pressure than other large economies.

    "Putin is ready to diversify gas supplies at any expense because he considers it geopolitically important," Milov said.

    Assuming that 38bn cubic metres of gas are delivered each year, the price of the gas is about $350 (£207) per thousand cubic metres, according to analysts. This is in the ballpark of what the Chinese had been insisting on, compared with Gazprom, which had reportedly been asking for $400 per thousand cubic metres. Miller previously said the gas supply could potentially grow to 60bn cubic metres a year.

    In contrast, Gazprom sold gas to western Europe for an average of $380.50 per thousand cubic metres in 2013, according to Bloomberg. Russia provides around 30% of continental gas, some of which is delivered to the UK.

    Developing the greenfield deposits and building the pipeline needed for the deal will be a colossal and costly undertaking. The Chayanda and Kovykta gas fields are in the depths of eastern Siberia. The "strength of Siberia" pipeline that will bring the gas to China through Vladivostok will run 4,000km (2,500 miles) through swampy, mountainous and seismically active areas. According to Putin, Russia will invest $55bn developing the project, while China will invest at least $20bn.

    Earlier this month, Russia reportedly lifted an informal ban on foreign ownership of strategic assets, apparently opening the way for Chinese companies to take part in developing the gas fields and pipeline.

    To give Gazprom more wiggle room with the price and jumpstart the negotiations, Putin offered on Tuesday to exempt gas destined for China from taxes on resource extraction. In return, China reportedly offered to cancel import duties on the gas.

    Nonetheless, the cost of development for such huge projects tends to increase during their construction, and analysts said the venture is unlikely to be profitable for at least the first several years of operations.

    "From the point of view of today's economic situation, my big question is whether Russia will actually be able to find financing for this and deliver on obligations to China," Milov said. "They also hope to get cheap Chinese credit to develop this, I understand, but this is part of negotiations."

    Even before the Ukraine crisis, Russia was looking east to diversify its energy customers since Europe, which gets 24% of its gas from Russia, is expected to reduce its dependence. Dozens of other deals were signed during Putin's China trip and the two leaders formed a united front against the west in a statement criticising foreign intervention in the affairs of sovereign states.

    Russia and China have also been ramping up military cooperation,starting joint exercises in the East China Sea on Tuesday near islands controlled by Japan, which has territorial disputes with both. "We have powerful enemies but we don't have powerful friends, that's why we need the support of such a giant as China," said Ruslan Pukhov, director of the Centre for the Analysis of Strategies and Technologies in Moscow.

    http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/21/russia-30-year-400bn-gas-deal-china
     
  2. teammellieIRANfan

    Feb 28, 2009
    Club:
    Perspolis
    Nat'l Team:
    Iran
  3. ceezmad

    ceezmad Member+

    Mar 4, 2010
    Chicago
    Club:
    Chicago Red Stars
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Is a very logical thing to do, not sure why it took so long, China needs natural resources, Russia has them, is a very logical relationship.
     
  4. teammellieIRANfan

    Feb 28, 2009
    Club:
    Perspolis
    Nat'l Team:
    Iran
    Russia signs deals with China to help weather sanctions

    (Reuters) - Russia and China signed energy, trade and finance agreements on Monday proclaimed by Moscow as proof that a policy turn to Asia is bearing fruit and will help it to weather Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis.

    The 38 deals, signed on a visit to Moscow by Premier Li Keqiang, allow for deeper cooperation on energy and a currency swap worth 150 billion yuan ($25 billion) intended partly to reduce the sway of the U.S. dollar.

    They are among the first clear successes of the eastward shift, ordered by President Vladimir Putin to avoid isolation over the sanctions, since the vast nations reached a $400 billion, 30-year natural gas supply agreement in May.

    "I consider it important that, in spite of the difficult situation, we are opening up new possibilities," Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said after the signing ceremony.

    In a sign that mistrust has still not been completely buried, Li was less effusive, even when holding out the prospect of a deal in 2015 to build a second pipeline along what is called the Western route to ferry Russian gas to China.

    "Cooperation over natural gas between Russia and China goes back quite a long way," Li said. But he added: "Further discussion is needed between companies."

    For Russia, the agreements offer some relief, with the European Union and the United States showing no signs of lifting sanctions imposed over Russia's annexation of the Crimea peninsula and its backing of separatists in east Ukraine.

    The sanctions target the finance, energy and defense sectors, restricting some state firms' and banks' ability to raise financing in Western markets.

    The currency swap strengthens China's plans to promote international usage of the yuanCNY= following pledges by Moscow and Beijing to settle more bilateral trade in roubles and yuan. Spurred by their often fraught relations with the United States, Russia and China have long advocated reducing the role of the dollar in international commerce.

    China, which has 32 percent of its $4 trillion foreign exchange reserves invested in U.S. government debt, would like to cap its vulnerabilities to any fluctuations in the dollar in the near term. Over the longer term, it wants to increase the yuan's clout and turn it into a global reserve currency.



    EASTWARD SHIFT IN OIL SUPPLIES

    Medvedev said trade turnover between Russia and China had grown by more than 100 percent over the past six years from $40 billion to $90 billion.

    "We are very close partners," he said, although trade with the combined 28 nations of the EU is greater than with China.

    Under the new agreements, cooperation will deepen between state oil producer Rosneft (ROSN.MM) and China National Petroleum Corporation, including in liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects and possibly LNG supplies to China.

    Banks VTB (VTBR.MM), VEB and Russian Agriculture Bank - like Rosneft hit by sanctions - signed framework agreements with China Exim bank to open credit lines.

    Mobile phone operator MegaFon and China Development Bank agreed to arrange financing of $500 million.

    Li, who arrived from Germany and will go on to Italy for a summit of European and Asian leaders later this week, is expected to hold talks with Putin on Tuesday.

    Another sign that Russian ties with Beijing are improving was the release of energy ministry data showing crude oil supplies to China rose in January-September by almost 45 percent year-on-year. Shipments from the Baltic Sea port of Primorsk toward Europe fell almost 20 percent.

    "Much greater changes can be seen in the geographical distribution of these shrinking exports, with flows to the West clearly losing out against prioritized links to the Far East, a trend that could easily be accelerated further in the current political climate," JBC Energy consultancy said in a note.

    Beijing has made clear it wants to increase business with Russia and cash in on the crisis in relations between Moscow and the West, now at their worst level since the Cold War.

    But time will be needed to end mistrust in relations between countries that almost went to war in a border dispute in the 1960s, when Russia was part of the Communist Soviet Union.

    Beijing is interested in investing in infrastructure, energy and commodities in Russia, but Moscow long had reservations about allowing Chinese investment in strategic industries.

    China may also have worries about investing in an economy that is stuttering, with the rouble hit by sanctions and a drop in the price of oil, Russia's most important export commodity.

    http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/13/us-russia-china-banks-idUSKCN0I20WG20141013
     
  5. JBigjake

    JBigjake Member+

    Nov 16, 2003
  6. CeltTexan

    CeltTexan Member+

    Sep 21, 2000
    Houston, TX USA
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Yup.
    Also, scripture speaks of the Bear of the North and the Dragon from the East uniting in end times and having powerful global influence. FYI.
     
  7. ceezmad

    ceezmad Member+

    Mar 4, 2010
    Chicago
    Club:
    Chicago Red Stars
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    No they don't.
     
  8. CeltTexan

    CeltTexan Member+

    Sep 21, 2000
    Houston, TX USA
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Ok, I will bite.

    Yes they will not only unite to attack Israel they will be able to do so specifically because they are a united front.
     
  9. ceezmad

    ceezmad Member+

    Mar 4, 2010
    Chicago
    Club:
    Chicago Red Stars
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Well now I know you are one of those crazy ones. Good luck with the end of times thing and all. I recommend not holding your breath.
     
  10. JBigjake

    JBigjake Member+

    Nov 16, 2003
  11. Boloni86

    Boloni86 Member+

    Jun 7, 2000
    Baltimore
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    Gibraltar
    This better be some sarcasm I'm not getting ...
     
  12. ceezmad

    ceezmad Member+

    Mar 4, 2010
    Chicago
    Club:
    Chicago Red Stars
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Biblical misunderstandings I believe.
     
  13. CeltTexan

    CeltTexan Member+

    Sep 21, 2000
    Houston, TX USA
    Club:
    Houston Dynamo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I know.
    You or 86 however?!? HAHA! ZING!
     
  14. Boloni86

    Boloni86 Member+

    Jun 7, 2000
    Baltimore
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    Gibraltar
  15. American Brummie

    Jun 19, 2009
    There Be Dragons Here
    Club:
    Birmingham City FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Huh...

    Does this phrase translate better in another language?
     
  16. song219

    song219 BigSoccer Supporter

    Apr 5, 2004
    La Norte
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    Vanuatu
    ...and does it have anything to do with bunga bunga

    Sent from my SCH-I200 using Tapatalk
     
    American Brummie repped this.
  17. teamdragon

    teamdragon Moderator
    Staff Member

    Feb 16, 2008
  18. ceezmad

    ceezmad Member+

    Mar 4, 2010
    Chicago
    Club:
    Chicago Red Stars
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Maybe his ego is just as big as Trumps then.

    https://www.economist.com/news/chin...-china-wages-war-apps-offering-news-and-jokes
     
  19. msilverstein47

    msilverstein47 Member+

    Jan 11, 1999
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  20. song219

    song219 BigSoccer Supporter

    Apr 5, 2004
    La Norte
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    Vanuatu
    Nothing happened today in Beijing 32 years ago.
     
    American Brummie repped this.
  21. ceezmad

    ceezmad Member+

    Mar 4, 2010
    Chicago
    Club:
    Chicago Red Stars
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    The CCP claims is going back to their socialist roots.

    Many liberals around here will love the sound of their latest sayings.


    But I guess Socialism (Chinese version of it) is masculine.

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/china-culture-crackdown-sign-profound-011852332.html
     

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