China and Russia have signed a $25 billion agreement under which Russia will supply China with oil for 20 years in exchange for loans to Russian state companies, said officials and media reports on Tuesday.
The deal was signed by Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin in Beijing on Tuesday.
It requires Russia to export 15 million tones of oil to China annually for a period of 20 years starting in 2011, while China is to provide a U.S. $15 billion loan to oil major Rosneft and another loan of $10 billion to oil pipeline operator Transneft.
"With shared efforts of the governments, enterprises and banks of both sides, Sino-Russian energy cooperation has made substantial progress" since both prime ministers held their 13th regular meeting last year, China's official Xinhua news agency quoted Wang as saying after signing the deal.
Sechin, on his part, said that Russia has already started building the pipelines required for transporting oil to China and added that his country would provide "steady and reliable supplies of oil to China."
"Sino-Russian energy cooperation is systematic, comprehensive and long term, and in accordance with the fundamental interests of the two countries," Sechin added.
China is the world's second-largest oil importer after the United States, while Russia is the world's second-largest oil exporter after Saudi Arabia.
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