Rosneft and CNPC signed earlier this year an agreement to establish two joint ventures, one in Russia and the other in China. The joint venture in Russia will deal with oil prospecting and extraction, while the joint undertaking in China will be in charge of crude refining and sales.
"Both enterprises have been in actuality established. Only the last legal documents remain to be signed," Sergei Bogdanchikov said. "We expect to complete the process by the end of the year."
Bogdanchikov said the JV in Russia will start acquiring oil prospecting licenses and, possibly, some current oil production assets as early as next year. He also said the JV in Russia will build an oil refinery with a capacity of 10 million metric tons (73.3 million barrels) of oil and about 300 filling stations in China.
The refinery will process both Russian and Chinese crude, Bogdanchikov said.
CNPC meets 79% of China's oil demand, and controls 95% of the domestic natural gas market and 40% of the oil products market.
