Russian firms eying coal projects with China Shenhua

Thursday, 16 Jun 2011

Interfax quoted a Russian Energy Ministry official said Russia Inter RAO UES and China Shenhua could jointly develop the Mencherepskoye coal field in the Kuznetsk basins.

Mr Konstantin Alexeyev head of the ministry's coal department said "There are plans to create energy and technology complexes, to enable the comprehensive development of coal fields. They include setting up clusters at the Karakanskoye and Mencherepskoye fields."

Mr Alexeyev said Russian Fuel Company planned to sign a deal with Shenhua during the economic forum in St Petersburg June 16 to 18 to create a joint venture to develop a coal field in the Amur region.

He said that "The papers are ready and we expect these sort of documents will be signed during Chinese leader Hu Jintao's visit to the St Petersburg forum."

According to a protocol which was signed at an August 30 2010 meeting of the Russian-Chinese energy cooperation sub-commission in Amur's administrative centre, Blagoveschensk China could provide USD 6 billion in loans to aid the development of coal production and export infrastructure in Russia.

China hopes to boost its annual imports of Russian coal to 15 million tonnes in the next five years and to at least 20 million tonnes thereafter. Russia energy minister and chairman of the meeting, Mr Sergei Shmatko, noted that this would make China one of the most attractive and strategic markets for the Russian coal industry.

The protocol also stated that Shenhua Group, one of China's major coal producers intends to form a joint venture in order to develop the Amur region Ogodzhinskoye coal deposit.

(sourced from Interfax)