Yesterday Bob blogged about the challenges faced by Russia and China in building a strategic energy partnership. Today Kommersant has more details, including a revelation that although China was Rosneft’s biggest oil importer in 2007, the company loses $40 on each ton sent to China rather than the west. At least Moscow and Beijing can agree to work together against the U.S. missile shield…

Energy contradictions With this said, energy issues remain the most challenging ones. In the course of Vladimir Putin’s visit to Beijing in March 2006 Russia and China agreed to set up an unprecedented energy alliance: Russian and Chinese state corporations drafted big contracts on Russian energy carriers supplies to China. Then the construction of the Eastern Siberia–Pacific ocean pipeline followed, which will soon have a branching to China from Skovorodino. But in recent years the realization of many of these projects has bogged down in disputes between Russia’s Rosneft and China’s CNPC over the price.