A second Sino-Russian oil pipeline that will double China’s imports of crude from the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean system began operating on January 1, Bloomberg reports.
China has the capacity to import 30 million tons annually (about 600,000 barrels a day) of crude via the new pipeline, up from 15 million tons before the second branch opened, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Monday. The two lines run parallel to each other between Mohe at the Chinese-Russian border and Daqing in northeastern Heilongjiang Province.
Russia was the top crude supplier to China, the world’s largest importer, for most of 2017, overtaking Saudi Arabia. Russia also aims to start supplying natural gas via the Power of Siberia pipeline by December 2019.