Last month, CIC posted a return of 11.7 percent on its overseas investment in 2010.

Russia may turn off oil pipeline to China over pricing disputes

俄罗斯石油输送公司或终止向中国出口原油

Russian oil pipeline company Transneft is considering halting oil shipments to China and repaying US$10 billion of loans to China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), citing difficulty reaching an agreement on oil pricing issues, Caijing.com reported Tuesday, citing Russian media.

In February 2009, CNPC signed an agreement with Russian oil companies Rosneft and Transneft to lend the firms US$25 billion to build an East Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) oil pipeline. In return, the Russian companies would supply CNPC with 300 million tons of crude oil over 20 years.

The ESPO pipeline began operating in January. But according to the Russian media, the Chinese have been requiring lower and lower oil prices and paying far less than the contract price to the Russian companies. As a result, Transneft has prepared to turn off the oil pipeline and stop shipping crude to China.

"It makes no difference to us whether we sell the oil to European or Asian countries," Caixin.com quoted a person familiar with the China-Russia oil venture as saying.

"Even if Russian oil pipeline companies file an arbitration claim, the Chinese side could still choose not to act as the court rules and continue to default on payments. In the worst case scenario, Russia could stop exporting oil to China sometime in March 2012," the source added.

由于一直难于就石油输送定价费用问题达成协议，俄罗斯石油输送公司可能将提前偿还中国的100多亿美元贷款，财经网周二报道，引用俄媒体消息。

2009年俄石油公司和石油运输公司与中石油集团签署协议，俄在未来20年里通过东西伯利亚-太平洋管线向中国出口3亿吨石油，中国则向两公司提供20年的250亿美元贷款。

俄罗斯今年1月1日开始向中国出口石油，但由于在价格方面存在分歧，中方一直拖欠相关款项。随着中国拖欠的款项越来越多，俄罗斯石油运输公司已经准备“关闭石油管道”，停止向中国输送石油。

“对于我们来说，石油卖给欧洲或者卖给东方没什么不同。”一位熟悉俄中石油合作进程的消息人士称。

“如果俄罗斯石油运输公司向仲裁法庭提出申诉，中国可能同样不会履行法庭的决定，像现在一样不支付石油费用。如果按照最坏方案发展，那到2012年3月的某个时候对中国的石油出口可能会被终止。”该人士称。