MOSCOW |
Tue Feb 28, 2012 12:25am EST
MOSCOW Feb 28 (Reuters) – Russian state-controlled
companies Rosneft and Transneft have
settled a dispute with China over the price for Russian crude
oil supplies via pipeline, business daily Kommersant reported on
Tuesday.
The agreement gives China National Petroleum Corporation
(CNPC) a discount of $1.5 per barrel, which will cost Rosneft
around $3 billion, Kommersant wrote, citing sources close to the
negotiations.
Officials from the Russian firms, and CNPC, were not
immediately available to comment on the report.
Russian oil pipeline monopoly Transneft and Russia’s top
crude producer Rosneft started pumping oil to China in January
2011 via the first stage of the East Siberian-Pacific Ocean
(ESPO) pipeline after receiving $25 billion in loans from
Beijing.
But Russia and China have been mired in a row over pricing,
which is based on the price of Russian crude in its Baltic ports
which a differential applied for the cost of transporting the
oil eastward.
Reuters sources have said the Chinese side objected to the
use of transport costs to the Pacific port of Kozmino as a basis
for the differential, since the Chinese border crossing is much
closer to Russia’s east Siberian fields than the port.
According to Kommersant, CNPC paid a total of $134 million
in arrears to Rosneft in the middle of January.
The Rosneft board will review the new pricing terms at a
Tuesday meeting, while the board of Transneft approved the
changes on Feb. 22, the newspaper wrote.
from CNPC or either Russian firm.
(Reporting by Maria Kiselyova; editing by Miral Fahmy)