Russia will pipe 68 billion cubic meters of natural gas to China each year by 2020, Russian energy chief Viktor Khristenko said on Tuesday.

"Russia will use two pipelines for the deliveries," Khristenko told a press briefing in Beijing, following his talks with Chinese officials on energy cooperation.

The western pipeline which connects Siberia with China's northwest Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region will start delivering gas in 2011 while the eastern line which traverses China's northeastern border with Russia will be in operation by 2016, Khristenko said.

Khristenko said that construction work on the long-awaited oil pipeline that will deliver crude oil directly from Siberia to China may begin next year.

He said the pipeline could deliver 15 million tons of oil annually in the initial stages, rising to 30 million tons in the longer term.

In 2006, Russia exported a total of 10 million tons of oil to China, with oil companies from the two countries working together on oil field exploration and drilling projects.

(Xinhua News Agency July 11, 2007)