China's quest for energy from Russia exposes history of distrust
20.05.12
MOSCOW — At exactly 48 minutes past midnight a year ago Jan. 1, Russia did something it had never done before: It began pumping oil to China across a 2,600-mile border that once bristled with tanks, troops and nerve-shredding tension.
The oil flowed from eastern Siberia through a newly completed pipeline, the first such link between the world's largest petroleum producer and its biggest energy consumer — and a symbol of what the two giant neighbors hail as a perfect symmetry of interests.
"We and the Chinese need each other," said Nikolai Tokarev, the head of Transneft, a state company responsible for the Russian portion of the pipeline. "They need oil, and we need a market."
When it came time to settle accounts for the first deliveries, however, Tokarev got an unpleasant surprise: China, Transneft says, underpaid by more than $100 million. "Naturally, this did not cause delight," Tokarev said. "We were surprised because there is a contract, and this contract has signatures. It should be respected."
Source: The Seattle Times