Rosneft chief describes negotiations with Chinese partners as difficult

MOSCOW, November 10 /TASS/. Rosneft’s negotiations with Chinese partners were difficult and their results were achieved thanks to compromises, the Russian oil company’s head Igor Sechin said in an interview with the state-run Rossiya 24 TV news channel on Monday. “Rosneft and the China National Oil & Gas Exploration and Development Corporation affiliated with CNPC, signed a framework agreement on the purchase of a 10-percent stake in ZAO Vankorneft,” Sechin said. Vankorneft is a sister enterprise of the NK Rosneft open joint-stock company. It was established in 2004 to explore the Vankorskoye oil and gas condensate deposit in the northern part of Eastern Siberia that Russia has opened and launched over the past 25 years. Besides, Sechin took part in a meeting of the board of directors of the Chinese-Russian Eastern Petroleum Company /a joint venture set up by Rosneft and CNPC/ in Beijing which approved a feasibility study for the construction of the oil processing section of the Tianjin oil refinery. “The outcome of any talks is always a result of certain compromises and hard work to coordinate positions. It’s rare when one of the sides can gain unilateral advantages. But it is next to impossible when you are dealing with professional companies like CNPC, Sinopec, CNOOC, etc. We are all in the market and we know each other very well. Of course, the final outcome is always a result of compromises,” Sechin said. “But I think that we have agreed on a market basis. The deal is a market one. Our advisers confirm that. But the negotiations were difficult,” the Rosneft chief said. Asked whether the Rosneft chief was satisfied with negotiations with the Chinese partners, Sechin ironically replied “No.” Members of the board of directors decided to optimize by the end of February 2015 an oil processing section of the Tianjin oil refinery with an annual capacity of 16 million tonnes of preliminary processed crude oil and a complex for the production of aromatic hydrocarbons with a capacity of 1.4 million tonnes a year. The board of directors also agreed that the feasibility study for the oil processing section of the Tianjin oil refinery should be finalized. In May 2014, Rosneft and CNPC adopted a schedule for the construction of the Tianjin oil refinery under which the plant should be commissioned late in 2019. Simultaneously, this document regulates deliveries of 9.1 million tonnes of raw products to the plant. Rosneft supplies oil to China under a long-term contract with CNPC. Read more